Supporting groups
As soon as groups are formed
As groups develop
Changes in group size and membership
Hints on group membership changes
As soon as groups are formed
Getting off to a good start will affect the success of groupwork. Give students some allocated class-time to first meet. A range of handouts selected from the templates can be used to encourage students to go through these early processes systematically.
In their early meetings, groups should be guided to:
- Introduce themselves and get to know each other.
- Exchange contact details.
- Agree on group-meeting frequency, times, and location(s).
- Establish strengths, skills and perspectives each has to offer the project.
- Discuss the goals each member has for the task/course.
- Discuss what standard of work is expected of all group members.
- Discuss the need to keep minutes and/or group journals.
- Determine expectations of each member for meeting preparation.
- Agree on meeting procedures/rules.
- Nominate a group co-ordinator.
- Establish roles for group members, and expectations of those roles (eg. leader, coordinator, minute taker, researcher, technical expert, editor etc).
- Decide on what form of leadership the group should have.
- Determine agreed goals/subgoals.
- Allocate individual tasks.
- Recommended minimum outcome of first group meeting.
As groups develop
Provide opportunities for regular (albeit short) meetings in class so that groups can meet with all members present, AND give the lecturer a chance to talk to groups to monitor progress, identify problems and offer guidance. If groupwork is important to the learning experiences, then dedicate some class-time to the process when you plan lessons.
Ensure you provide genuine opportunities for students to raise any questions and concerns. Often a few minutes at the end or beginning of a class (or just before/after) is better than expecting students to attend a consultation time in your office at a later time.
Require regular hand-ins to be submitted, such as progress reports, meeting minutes, or completed subtasks. These should be limited in size (1 page) and contribute to progress of the groupwork task.
Changes in group size and membership
There are three main reasons why group size and/or membership changes:
- Withdrawal from the unit of study.
- New enrolments in a unit of study.
- Students request a change to a different group
Hints on group membership changes
Avoid forming groups too early in session, wait till enrolments settle.
Require students to form groups from within their tutorial group. Students do not have the chance to get advice from more than one tutor, then choose the answer they prefer. It makes administration and mark recording much more straight forward.
Invite groups to accept a new member if a student arrives after groups have formed. Often a group will agree (especially if they have lost a member along the way).
Identify and promote the skills of a potential new member to existing groups.
Join smaller groups where members have left to form a larger group.
Have your ideal group number but be flexible. There will always be some variation in group-sizes within a cohort. Consider early how the task may be recast for slightly small/larger groups, or how assessment may account for different sized groups.
Sometimes you may have to make a change without all parties agreeing, but make sure it is the fairest possible decision for all involved. Discuss your decision with students and explain the reason for your decision - they will mostly understand your situation and respect your decision if you explain your reasoning.
Try to determine the ‘real’ reason a student wants to change groups, eg. they want to work with a friend, think that another group will get a higher mark and want to join it, conflict with a current group member. Base a decision on whether to allow a change on this reason.
Avoid changes after groups have been formed wherever possible. It leaves opportunities for later claims of not having the same time as other groups to work on a task.
If group membership changes after students begin work on the task, aim to get agreement from all group members to avoid resentment and lack of cooperation.