Keeping Student Groups on Course
What strategies help to ensure student groups will stay on course and be productive?
Monitoring the room,keping the groups chosen by random.Also by me interacting with each group an offer assistance when needed!!!
To keep student groups on course the instructor must move between groups and monitor the conversation of the groups to ensure they are focused on the concepts being presented.
I also like to move around to each group & listen for awhile. I find this helps keep them on track & also helps all to contribute more.
Ryan
I utilize this same idea myself. I move back & forth between the groups. I also try to participate in the discussions & provoke more thought. Often I will try to take an opposing view if I feel the group members are too much in agreement with one another.
Ryan
Giving time frame's of when task needs to be completed. Going from group to group,asking them questions,keeping them motivated, discussing the topic etc.
Karl,
Great strategy on working with groups. I like the approach of giving them the time frame, etc & letting them work. Especially with adults/young adults they need to learn to work toward a deadline & manage their work accordingly. I also like to move from group to group to ensure they are on task.
Ryan
Scott,
I think it is very important to make group selection a random process. In vocational education as in any type of education, students want to be with friends whom they socialize with. In my experience, this is generally a detriment to students getting the tasks accomplished that they need to get accomplished. Much better to keep friends separate if possible.
Steve Baker
It is sometimes said that the effectiveness of a group is largely based on how cohesive the group is. Group cohesion is not an instant result of grouping especially when the members are selected randomly. So keeping the group on task is especially difficult when this particular group selection method is used. What I like to do to get a group started is to outline the very first goal they need to accomplish. This many times gets the members talking and then you as the instructor begin to get a "feel" for how this group will work. Identifying the emergent leader or appointing the leader is the next step. This person tends to be really good at keeping the group on task, becoming the liaison between myself and the group and is typically committed to seeing the task to completion.NOt to say that issues don't arise but then my role becomes...mitigating the problem and helping the group overcome whatever blocks they may encounter in the process of completing the task.
Stephen,
I agree with you 100%. While we hope all students in a group get along & enjoy the project, the purpose is to accomplish a task & learn from it, not to have another social opportunity.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Even with moving around between the groups and asking questions and giving suggestions as to how they can work together, there seems to be one person in one group that on the day of the presentation of the project, that one person does not show up and causes the group to be missing part of the project, even after the understanding that their reserch should stay together. Any suggestions?
Even with moving around between the groups and asking questions and giving suggestions as to how they can work together, there seems to be one person in one group that on the day of the presentation of the project, that one person does not show up and causes the group to be missing part of the project, even after the understanding that their reserch should stay together. Any suggestions?
Keeping them organized and on task by giving them a specifc task to complete with in a specific time frame.
Vickie,
This is tough, however what I have done is place a significant portion of that person's grade on whether he/she shows up for class. I let the students know at the beginning that if they don't show up the day of the presentation, I really don't care how much work they've done prior, they probably will fail the project/assignment.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Maria,
Yes, the more clear we can be with our expectations & what needs to be done by when the better off the groups will be & potentially they will be more successful.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Give some class time for the groups to meet and discuss their project. Give multiple tasks with deadlines before the final project to ensure that their is work being done before the last minute. Have students submit progress reports on their group assignment.
Miriam,
I think those progress reports can be a great tool to check on how they are doing & allow for earlier intervention. Also, in my corporate experience this is true to life as generally we had to submit status reports as we were working on projects.
Dr. Ryan Meers
It can build group team work. Students will learn to work with faster and slower students.
Roy,
Yes, this does help our students learn to work with & tolerate a variety of work paces, which will help them in the work world.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Students have also learn, they not agree with everyone. That is hard to learn
