working in groups
Adult students enjoy working in groups because they enjoy the opportunity to interact and learn about their commonalities and goals.
cory ,
this is definitely true & this is such a valuable skill for all of us to have in our careers.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I often teach small classes, so there is always a group mentality. It makes it easy to see the mergence of each student's personality and how they interact.
Adults can also learn from others to help build up their weak areas in a group better than by their selves.
Working in a goup is a grat way to learn new skills, when students deliver knowledge to other students. Open communication in between students improve their confidence level.
One thing I have found is that you have to make sure all students participate. I find some will let the others work and then copy their work.
Toni,
I agree that not all students like this, however most of our students will be working (at least at some point in their careers) in a group or team environment & they must learn how to work with a variety of personalities & deal with these issues.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
This is not always true. Some students prefer to work alone, they feel that working in groups is more of a hasle and that not everyone puts forth the effort.
I find this statement can be both true and false. It depends on the adults personality and learning style. In an ideal world, all students would be able to work in a group setting weel, because let's face it, that is basically what the workplace is-- a group working environment. However, I find you always have conflicting personalities and learning styles. While it can be challenging for the instructor, I feel group work is extremely important in that it helps students get used to working with different personality types just as they will when they enter the workforce. It helps them understand not only the subject material being covered but helps them leanr to navigate with "coworkers"
