Seth Soronnadi
Learned that it is a good practice to; "Give the groups a simple assignment in the beginning, so they can practice working together in a low-risk environment."
When creating groups, unless it is an advanced class, students should not be picking their own groups. As an instructor, it is your job to consider individual student's strengths and weaknesses and to group them based on this to provide everyone with the opportunity to be successful and put forth good work.
Diverisity in groups of 6-8 will give the best results. Do not let one student take over. Have the groups assign a task to each student.
I have always useed group learning for hands on activities. Large scale construction projects need a crew to do the job and my focus is to make sure that everyone in my class becomes a foreperson, at least once. Once the forepeople are picked, they are able to pick the crew. However, as the instructor, I have veto power over any pick to prevent crews being populated by the same people over and over again. One other way to get diversity in each group is to have the forepeople pick one person at a time, Typically, with a few rules set before the crews are pickedd, the crews formed are balanced and have a new combination of people.
The importance of student monitoring. Also, to use groups that are diverse and no more than 6-8 students in size.
I have learned the importance of group learning.
Stting groups of around 6 to 8 members is ideal for the best development of this learning tool.
This will allow students to interact with each other and learn to possible strengths that each one of them will bring to the group.
Also about monitoring the class and its importance.
