Content
Teachers and students alike have a love-hate relationship with group work. Teachers love it because it’s a chance for social interaction and collaboration among students, but they also know it can come with the price of behavioral issues and the potential for one or more students to be left behind in the group. Students love group work because they can work with their friends and talk without being reprimanded. They also may dislike it because it eliminates individual attention and can create unfair competition within the group.
If it’s designed well, group work can always be a positive experience for both the teacher and students. The following list details a important aspects of designing group work:
- Foster group dependence: Design the groups and the work being done within the groups so that one student cannot do everyone or one student cannot choose to participate. Ensure every student has a role within the group and emphasize the fact that the task cannot be done if you don’t rely equally on each other.
- Create interesting and applicable work: If the group work is being created simply to satisfy the label of “group work,” the groups will fail. The work itself needs to be relevant to the greater lesson and be interesting enough that the students will be engrossed in their assignments.
- Structure the tasks and groups fairly: If there are four sections or divisions within the assignment, don’t allow for groups of three or five. Each student must contribute equally within the group in order for the undertaking to be successful as a teaching strategy.
Group work for the sake of group work is pointless. Without an organized plan, survey (through online survey software) or construction for the assignment, neither the teacher nor the student will achieve what they had hoped or wanted from the event. Keeping relevance and structure in mind will assure a favorable outcome.