Kimberly Bell, Teaching Assistant Development Specialist

Ok, you are taking a stab at this whole group work thing. You planned a multi-week activity that you think your students will find relevant and (not too) challenging. Then, you took Jennifer’s awesome advice, created a group contract with roles, and planned for group reflection after the activity. Your students diligently completed their contracts, chose their roles, and agreed to work cooperatively and respectfully. The first day seemed to go well, the groups worked efficiently, members were friendly with each other, they utilized their roles. So you thought, “hey, this isn’t so bad!”. The second day…well, not so much. Don’t lose hope, your careful planning did not go to waste. Group dynamics, as we know, are complicated. Here is some advice on what you can do to help your students work more effectively together when things don’t go according to plan. 

Backtrack

Group Behaviors 

As part of your contract creation process, you can have your students reflect on constructive and destructive group behaviors. You can call them “not-so-constructive,” or similar, as to not demoralize your students. This short reflection can make students more self-aware of their group behaviors, accountable for them, and prevent conflict.

Facilitation: Provide groups with the following list. Give them time to read and reflect, then have them choose and write down one of each type that they can relate to and share with their group. Reassure them that people do both and ask them to reflect honestly about how they have worked in groups in the past or share a story about when you worked in a group. 

Constructive Behaviors

• Cooperating – Is interested in the views and perspectives of other group members and is willing to adapt for the good of the group.
• Clarifying – Makes issues clear for the group by listening, summarizing and focusing discussions.
• Inspiring – Enlivens the group, encourages participation and progress.
• Harmonizing – Encourages group cohesion and collaboration.
• Risk taking – Is willing to risk possible personal loss or embarrassment for the group or project success.
• Process Checking – Questions the group on process issues such as agenda, time frames, discussions topics, decision methods, use of information, etc.

 Not-So-Constructive Behaviors 

• Dominating – Takes much of meeting time expressing self-views and opinions. Tries to take control by use of power, time, etc.
• Rushing – Encourages the group to move on before the task is complete. Gets “tired” of listening to others and working as a group.
• Withdrawing – Removes self from discussions or decision-making. Refuses to participate.
• Discounting – Disregards or minimizes group or individual ideas or suggestions. Severe discounting behavior includes insults, which are often in the form of jokes.
• Digressing – Rambles, tells stories, and takes the group away from its primary purpose.
• Blocking – Impedes group progress by obstructing all ideas and suggestions. “That will never work because…”

Adapted from Brunt (1993). Facilitation Skills for Quality Improvement. Quality Enhancement Strategies. 1008 Fish Hatchery Road. Madison WI 53715

Group Roles

You may consider switching up the group roles. Perhaps a student chose their role in an uninformed manner, and it is not aligned with their strengths. A more suitable role can help students be motivated to work with their group and feel they can contribute meaningfully. If you will utilize groups in each class for the entire semester, consider changing them completely once or twice, especially if you are receiving complaints or notice groups aren’t working well. Sometimes, you may have to switch members before you planned, in order to manage conflict. 

Incorporate peer-instruction

Use the think-pair-share strategy within groups to spark cooperative learning and discussion. Groups can then be combined to expand on this and build up to a whole class discussion.

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/setting-up-and-facilitating-group-work-using-cooperative-learning-groups-effectively/

Assess & Reflect 

As part of your assessment plan for the group work and student contributions, consider the following:

Is each member contributing?

Did your groups use their roles during the second class? Discord can form in groups when work is not evenly divided. Since students were motivated for the new project the first day, they may have all contributed equally. Then, on the second day their typical group behaviors were more apparent. In addition to the suggestion above about group behaviors, perhaps you can incorporate a way to make them use their roles more explicitly, and/or have them submit an individual work component. This will hold each person accountable and may alleviate some of the tension. 

Will your students tell you there are problems?

It may seem a group is working well together, but that may not be the case. Students can be struggling with their group and not inform you. Students are often hesitant to provide honest feedback, even if explicitly asked for it because they think it may affect their grade, alter your perception of them, or that somehow their group members will find out what they said. If you are using a survey or another tool to collect feedback from students to their group, be sure to make it clear that you are truly asking for their honest feedback because you want them to work well together and succeed. 

Provide additional resources to help your students

You students may need time management tips, more explicit instructions, follow-up information, or direct help managing group conflict, despite your best efforts. Are there other resources you can give them to help? Consider sharing the following guide with your students when starting the group work or project:

• Group Project Conflict Resolution Guide for Students compiled by Heidi Burgess,  Co-Director, University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium
• https://www.beyondintractability.org/educationtraining/group-projects

References: 

Guide: Group work: Using cooperative learning groups effectively by Cynthia J. Brame and Rachel Biel https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/setting-up-and-facilitating-group-work-using-cooperative-learning-groups-effectively/

Group Projects: A Conflict Resolution Guide for Students by Heidi Burgess, Co-Director, university of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium https://www.beyondintractability.org/educationtraining/group-projects

Article: How to Survive Virtual Groupwork https://www.elearners.com/education-resources/online-learning/how-to-survive-virtual-group-work/

Essay: Facilitating Group Discussions: Understanding Group Development and Dynamics

Kathy Takayama, Brown University

https://podnetwork.org/content/uploads/V21-N1-Takayama.pdf

  Jennifer Jaiswal, Instructional Designer & Sr Instructional Technologist 

Am I the only one who has heard the collective groan when the class group work project is announced? Am I the only one who has had a terrible group work project, where I’ve been stuck writing the report or presentation on my own? Most students and faculty have had poor group work experiences. What are the reasons for having them in our courses?

As we prepare our students for the workforce, the National Association of Colleges and Employers have teamwork/collaboration as one of the top career competencies that employers are looking for college graduates to have. Working as a team also allows students to develop their competencies in: professionalism/work ethic, oral/written communications, leadership and more. These career competencies can all be developed through group work projects (NACE, 2019).

The group work assignments that we complete in our classes serve as a testing ground for how we should participate in groups in our professional lives after graduation. Assigning a group project with no guidelines or restrictions is not realistic and sets up groups for challenges. But what makes a good group project? 

Guidelines:

Don’t assign a group project without a team plan. Planning ahead can help to make sure that everyone in the group has an idea of what the group will be completing and what their own individual responsibilities are. Using a Group Contract can help students think through the key features of a functioning team and what they each will be responsible for in the project. 

Contracts should include:

• Names and contact information: This helps to set up accountability and the ability to get in contact with each other. 
• Team roles and responsibilities: Each team member should take responsibility for part of the project and list its responsibilities in the contract. Team members may take on multiple roles as part of their project, but listing out what their responsibilities are helps to balance the workload upfront and create the timeline. Some examples are: 
  • Leader – sets the agenda, sends reminders, and keeps team members accountable.
  • Researcher – gathers raw material for the group and cites sources; can be more than one in a team
  • Writer/Producer – connects the research together to tell the story
  • Editor – reviews the final draft for errors, references, and makes sure that it is ready to be sent to instructor or ready for presentation 
  • More roles and their descriptions can be found on the CSU: San Marcos page

• Best Dates and Times to Meet:

• • Asking this at the beginning helps to avoid the conflict later. 
  • This helps to set up accountability and a schedule for touching base over the course of the project. 
  • You can also arrange your groups based on what times they are most available to help the group have a natural meeting time.

• Timeline:

• • What are the tasks that need to be completed by each member of the group?
  • What is a reasonable time by which that task should be completed?
  • The Writer/Producer should work with the Researchers to set a deadline that gives them time to produce the project
  • The Editor should set the final timeline to make sure they have enough time to review and complete the project before the deadline.

• Signatures:

• • All members should sign to show they agree with the written plan and turn a copy into the faculty member.

Getting Started:

If you are looking for a sample to get started see our Group Contract Template. This has suggestions for information that can go into your contract. You can make a copy and edit it to best meet your needs.

The description of your assignment should be clear and understandable with the knowledge that your students will have of the course and its content. It should be broken down into manageable tasks that students will be able to complete in the time allotted. Offering examples of previous projects that did well can also help students make sure they are not planning the scope of the project to be too big.

Creating a model where the group project can be evaluated on an individual basis can also help the group to function better. This shows that you are interested in all members completing tasks and working on the project together, and can help to prevent group members from becoming estranged, not participating or letting the other members carry all the weight of the project. For example, you can have a joint presentation but also have a reflection paper where students cover what they learned in the process of the project that can be evaluated for an individual grade. For more information and methods on assessing groups please see this article by the Eberly Center from Carnegie Mellon. 

Reflection 

Last but not least, ask your students to reflect on their process, the project, their participation, and other member’s participation. This gives the students the opportunity to alert you to any challenges in the group and if members were not participating equally. You can have reflections at multiple points throughout the project, not just at the end. Some sample questions you can ask are:

• How is the team working as a whole? Are there challenges? What are they? How are they being resolved?
• What have you been working on since the beginning of the project?
• How have your peers been participating in the project?
• What do you think of your own contributions to the project?

Thinking out the process of the group project and what the expectations are can help to make a better experience as students learn how to design and plan a project while learning how to manage and work with a team. For help with your group project please contact CELT.

Reference

NACE Staff. (2019, March 29). The four career competencies employers value most. National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). https://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/the-four-career-competencies-employers-value-most/