Sometimes I put the students into random groups, with a topic and job assignments within the group. It allows them to work with students they normally do not engage with. Other times, allowing them to pick the members of the group, gives the class a renewed sense of energy for the topic.
Speaking from personal experience obtained from a course in which I was a student, I agree with the comment that picking own groups may lead to some students feeling that they are outcasts if not chosen by others. It makes some people feel uncomfortable to ask to be in a group, when others (who obviously already know each other) get together and form a group. Their body language may even be negative unintentionally, as they start right in on deciding who does what, even turning their bodies away from the class.
Since I have been clumping students in groups for over a decade, and like the mule, eventually learn from application of the 2 x 4, this is what I have learned about organizing students into work groups:
1) Use a simple self-assessment mechanism to triage the students in the class in terms of the class content [I teach applied IT, so there usually is a wide variance in background knowledge], and make sure no group is all experts, and no group all newBs.
2) Mix genders so that, if at all possible, there is no single instance, and ideally, there is a 50-50 balance. Again, in the IT world, where there is a dearth of female students, this is harder to do than in other disciplines I am sure.
3) The ideal group is 5 - 6, but if you must vary from that ideal, it is better to err on the large size. If you have a group of 4, and 2 of the group don't show on a given day [and this often happens], that group is severely hampered, whereas if 2 are gone from a group of 8, the remaining group is perfectly sized for its activities.
The interesting distinction to me, having taught online and on ground, is that online students tend to find group work more objectionable than on-ground students. This is, I suspect, the result of non-contribution being a bit more easily observed by all participants online.
Bruce,
this is a great strategy. Often the students learn better from one another as it provides a chance to hear the material in a different way.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I like to group the students with at least one student that understands what is being covered. My hopes are that the "strong" student will help the "weaker" student understand in a way that I was not able to.
I agree. Sometimes there is usually someone left out of the group (they don't get picked) or there is disruption in the group and they no longer get along. So on a regular basis (every week) I randomly reconfigure the groups.
organizing students in to groups if you have a large group can be very beneficial to you an your students.students can learn quicker in some cases from other students that understand. The students are more focus an involded.
Students usually gravitate toward each other. I typically try to keep a couple students they know each other together and add a couple that don't to the mix. This mix can create an interesting dynamic, as all parties have to learn about each other and learn compromise.
Dawn,
this is exactly the same reason I like to mix up the various student groups as well. They must become use to working with diverse team members.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
When using student groups, I allow the students to choose their own groups for the first in-class project/discussion. After that, I change the groups everytime I utilize them. I feel it is important for a student to work with everyone in the class, even if they do not get along. I make it known that "in the real world" you may not get along with all of your co-workers and you will need to work through those conflicts. This helps lay the foundation for conflict resolution and I am there to give them ideas to overcome barriers.
When I put students in groups I choose to the group for them. I have found it helps to eliminate the same students always in the same group. I prefer to mix the many different personalties together help them to learn how to work with different types of people.
Sometimes I like to draw my student groups randomly. This way you don't have the same group of people paired all the time.
To organize groups in classess you can organize them by the strongest students in the course.
Example in one my programming courses I have 4 students who are excellent programmers.
I assigned each of them to separte groups to help the other students in the group with course projects. In putting students into groups the process of instructional can be simply explain to the students they understand each other.
In putting them into groups they can learn from each other and provide different background and experience to group projects.
Groups projects have their place. I pay attention to the students that the class use as a resource. Then I organize a group where that student becomes a resource and leader. That develops growth for the student that is leading the group, and it creates a comfortable learning/review enviroment for the other students.
Julia,
this is a great strategy as it can help students get out of their comfort zones & stretch themselves.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I like teams of 2 or 3 that put students together who don't normally sit or work together to make them communicate a little harder with each other and also in answering the questions.
David,
I do think this is a great idea conceptually. Obviously, as you've pointed out there are some challenges. But I believe that with some good pre-planning this could be pulled off & would help with a 4.5 hour lecture.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I would appreciate your input on this. I have a class size of 28-30. I have a 4.5 hour lecture on the first day that i Have always thought it would be fun to split them into groups with a list of things each group has to cover. Then have each group explain there findings to the class. The problem I see is that time is critical to my class spliting them up as well being a challange. I do see some stratagies in this part of the course that may help me with this but would like some opinions as well.
nutisha,
the more diversity we can put into the groups the better they represent real life.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
When I form groups, I try to place indivduals into that would normally never correspond with one another. This gives the students the chance to get fresh ideas that they may never otherwise have been exposed to. It gives the students an oppurtunity to mesh with different age groups, cultures, and lifestyles.
