The biggest challenge I've encountered has been passive students in a work group - no one stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility. The extreme version of this is slackers, whereby they do as little as possible.
The social pressure of the other team members on those passive students tends to spur them on to greater activity, which is a good thing.
I have a class right now of adult students who are very challenging. I have purposely added more group activites to make them work together and understand that when you get in the job world it is all about team work. We are getting there but it is a long process for these individuals to understand effective team work.
Hi Curtis!
Good point; however, I think the bigger challenge is that group members don't have a clus of how to resolve the issue. As a result, they do one of 2 things - fume about it or do the work for the slacker. Instructors need to help students how to handle these types of situations since they will have to be able to handle the same type of situation in the work place.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
Some of the challenges include the perception or reality that someone in a work group is not participating in a substantive manner. As a result you have those that feel overtasked and those that are sliding through.
The biggest challenge I have observed is when one member of the group does not contribute equally. Other students become discouraged and are uneasy bringing the issue up with that group member. Setting ground rules and a specific course of action at the beginning of the project helps reduce the avoidance of conflict because they have been instructed on how to handle it effectively.
Most of my students are girls and they will get off the class topic especially if they are close friends and discuss going out or their children. So I will walk up and down the classroom to redirect the conversation to the assignment.As the term progresses the students remain on task without assistance. Also, in the beginning of the term I usually assign the students into groups. As the term progresses I do let the students break up into their own small groups. The students are very good at identifying and choosing effective team members and personalities for their group discussions.
Hi Kim!
I understand your reason for selecting group members but it does somewhat defeat the purpose of the group process. Keep in mind in the workplace, group selection has a good possiblity of being random with the leader naturally falling out of the group. I think there is a reason for that - diversity which helps groups to view all possible solutions.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
Hi Danielle!
It sounds like there is more than meets the eye with the student who appears to withdraw from group work. Can you think of other ways to engage this student?
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I have solved one of the challanges of student groups which is grading. I do as the module suggests, there is a group grade, and individual grade and then I give a form to the students for them to grade themselves and the members of their team. I think it helps keep the grading balanced.
I don't get as many opportunities for group work as I would like to give my students, but when I do, I often select the students for the groups even though the modules say to let it be random. I do this so that the group is balanced and that students who know each other don't end up working with each other. I like a fair balance of skill and leadership.
Right now I have only three students, so often I tell them to work in a group. The problem I am having is that two of them have no problem, but it seems that the third person is not really fitting in with them. I tried to address it but she just makes excuses for why she isn't sitting with the others.
When place in groups that they are uncomfortable with, some students just sit there quietly without any input.
Greetings Jason!
Unfortunately, group interaction in an academic setting is so focused on getting the project completed that instructors cannot help students understand the group process and the outcomes that should be achieved.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
Ed106 Facilitator
Yes, Jill, you are so right. But I think it's beeter for students to experience this in a classroom setting than in the workplace. I encourage instructors to not only focus on the group project but on the process for working in a group.
Good job!
Jane Davis
ED106 facilitator
The main challenge I have experienced is that everyone has a different way of approaching the project. Some are proactive and others procrastinate. Some deal with things in the 11th (or 12th) hour. Some students assume that if one person in the group isn't working on their schedule that they are not going to do their work. (Of course, sometimes this is true.) I have had complaints that one student's grade shouldn't be tied to someone who doesn't care about their grade. I ask how they would feel if it was their job and not just a grade.
The bottom line is that I use it as a tool for teaching group dynamics as well as accomplishing the project.
I too have found that there is always a disparity in perceived effort and ‘pulling their own weight’ that can only be managed through increased structure. I preferred to let the students work things out on their own, creating a micro-societal experiment at the same time. These group dynamics and social skill lessons are critical to developing soft skills necessary in most careers. However, too often the focus was only on fairness and petty disputes. The goal of the exercise was lost so I began to create more concrete pathways to remove the obstacles. Although doing so diminished the ability to progress their social skills, the original design of the group activity was preserved.
Some challenges are that in every class, there are students who take over and students who don't take part. At least one group will be saddled with these students and the remaining students will suffer because of it. Also some students just flat out do not work well together.
There could be many challenges, but commonly it is personalities and uneven distribution of the work. Many students or more out spoken than others and it is difficult to identify the skill mix of the quite, go with the flow students' abilities. Some students might be slackers, while others are hard working and motivated.
Thanks! I do use other, informal group assignments throughout the class. It does seem to get them used to group work, like you said, and these activities often help them prepare for that graded assignment. I teach English, so there are a lot of opportunities for group brainstorming activities, worksheets, informal "quizzes," group presentations of textbook chapters, things like that. While students complain about working in groups at first, they often request more group work in their course evaluations :)
I'm glad my method for group grading was helpful for you! It is the result of the combined input of many English instructors at my school, and it seems to work really well for us. Do you use group work in your classes?
Thanks for sharing your method of group grading. That helps alot.
Students do need to learn to work in group settings and on group projects.
You stated you only use one group project for a formal grade in your course. Do they have other group projects that are not graded? If they do this seems like it would be good to get them used to "group work" without worrying about the grade. This way they could learn some valuable techniques and strategies for participating in group work. Thanks again
