{"id":275,"date":"2019-11-08T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/?p=275"},"modified":"2019-08-27T09:16:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T17:16:57","slug":"group-work-101-organizing-student-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/group-work-101-organizing-student-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Group Work 101 \u2013 Organizing Student Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You have a team project in your course this\nsemester.&nbsp; Should you encourage students to\nform their own teams?&nbsp; Or should you put\nthem into groups?&nbsp; Will it make any\ndifference in the overall outcome of the project?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you consider your decision, you might\nimagine the possible results of each scenario.&nbsp;\nIf you put students into groups, you foresee students asking for changes\nso that they can work with friends or in a more comfortable situation. If you\nallow students to form their own teams, you worry that some students might be\nexcluded, or that students might feel pressured to do work on behalf of less\ncapable peers.&nbsp; What factors could guide\nyour decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Essentially, instructors have three options\nwhen placing students into teams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Allowing students to select\ntheir own groups.<\/li><li>Assigning students to groups\nrandomly.<\/li><li>Assigning students to groups\nstrategically based on set criteria.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>There is some evidence that students work\nmore effectively when they choose their own groups.&nbsp; In self-selected groups, students may begin\nwith a sense of belonging, and as a result they feel a stronger sense of\nobligation to contribute well to the group project (Aggarwal &amp;\nO\u2019Brien, 2008).&nbsp; Does this mean that it is always best to let\nstudents choose their own groups?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I\u2019ve talked to students about their\nexperiences with group projects, it has been interesting to note their feelings\non the subject.&nbsp; Some students express\nthat they would like to gain more experience working in diverse teams, but are\nunsure of how to reach out to students different from themselves &nbsp;Is there a way to assign students to groups in\na way that is likely to create a shared sense of ownership of the group\nproject?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assigning students to groups strategically\ncan lead to diverse teams while minimizing student frustration about team\nmembers lack of equal contribution to the work. In one study, students were\nassigned to teams based on their expressed level of motivation (measured by the\namount of time they intended to spend on the project), and their schedules.\nHighly motivated students were matched together based on schedules, while\nstudents with lower levels of motivation were also matched together.&nbsp; Students matched with this method were less\nlikely to \u201cfree-ride\u201d on the contributions of others, and produced stronger\nfinal products (Harding, 2018).&nbsp; Other possible considerations\nwhen strategically grouping students are skill sets and ability levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why might this strategy be successful?&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In some group projects, high\nperforming students who are concerned about their grades on final projects may\nlimit the contributions of students they perceive as less capable. If groups\nare more equal in ability level, all students are able to contribute their best\nproduct to ensure the group\u2019s success.<\/li><li>In some cases, students with\nmultiple commitments may not have the flexibility to commit the same level of\ntime as other peers \u2013 regardless of their ability or achievement level. By\ngrouping them with others with similar schedules, groups are less likely to\nexperience conflict about time commitment.<\/li><li>Students who may be inclined to\n\u201cfree-ride\u201d if they are grouped with highly motivated students are required to\ncommit effort to team projects when matched with similar students (Harding\n2018).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What else might you want to consider?&nbsp; Team size is another important variable.&nbsp; Small teams are more effective than larger\nteams.&nbsp; As teams grow, there is less of a\nsense of commitment to the group as a social unit, and more opportunity to rest\non the work of others in the group (Aggarwal &amp;\nO\u2019Brien, 2008).&nbsp; Groups of 2-4 students may be a better choice\nthan larger teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By thoughtfully and strategically\norganizing student teams, you can help your students move one step closer to\neffective learning experiences through team projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aggarwal, P.,\n&amp; O\u2019Brien, C. L. (2008). Social loafing on group projects: structural\nantecedents and effect on student satisfaction. <em>Journal of Marketing\nEducation<\/em>, <em>30<\/em>(3), 255\u2013264. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0273475308322283<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harding, L. M. (2018). Students of a feather \u201cflocked\u201d together: a\ngroup assignment method for reducing free-riding and improving group and\nindividual learning outcomes. <em>Journal of Marketing Education<\/em>, <em>40<\/em>(2),\n117\u2013127. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0273475317708588<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You have a team project in your course this semester.&nbsp; Should you encourage students to form their own teams?&nbsp; Or should you put them into groups?&nbsp; Will it make any difference in the overall outcome of the project? As you consider your decision, you might imagine the possible results of each scenario.&nbsp; If you put&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45,44,49,60,62,46],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-impact-practice","tag-higher-ed","tag-higher-education","tag-post-secondary","tag-teaching","tag-team","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}