How to make group work work Drs Kim

+ How to make group work, work! Drs. Kim Fouad and Crystal Quillen CELT Presentation February 27, 2017

+ Learning Outcomes 1. Understand various ways to effectively assign group work. 2. Recognize the different ways group work is graded and determine the most effective grading strategies.

+ Discussion Outline n Why do we assign group work? n How should we grade group work?

+ Why do we assign group work?

+ Real World Significance n Promotes higher level thinking n Analysis, evaluation, problem solving n Provides an opportunity to respond to critical feedback n Employers are looking for people who work well in teams n In the work place – increases work productivity Hansen, 2006; Wagar & Carroll, 2012

+ Student Perceptions of Group Work n Positive response n Aligned with teamwork effectiveness n Learning-by-doing approach n Negative response due to n Unclear goals n Conflict n Mismanagement n Unequal participation n Social loafing Hansen, 2006

+ Social Loafing n Develops due to: n Larger group size n Greater scope of the project n Longer duration of the project n Lack of individual accountability n Instructor-assigned groups Aggarwal & O'Brien, 2008; Tomcho & Foels, 2012

+ How do we assign group work?

+ Choose roles n Rotating Roles n Group facilitator – moderating all team discussions, keeping the group on task and looking after everybody’s share of work. n Recorder – not only summarizes group discussions but also prepares the group activities Hernandez, 2002

+ Choose roles (con’t. ) n Rotating Roles n Timekeeper – reminds group of time constraints for tasks n Wildcard – fill-in when a group member is missing or however they are needed Hernandez, 2002

+ How can we prepare students for group work?

+ Instructor contributions n Prepare students to learn in group projects. n Provide on-going support. n Increase positive attitudes about group projects. n Increase communication and better planning among group members. Bailey et al. , 2015; Eddy & D'Abate, 2016

+ Prior to the team project: n Prior learning through practice or a pre- learning activity n Ensures adequate preparation Eddy & D'Abate, 2016; Tomcho & Foels, 2012

+ Prior to the team project: n Create a team contract to discuss group behavior: n Being on time n Coming prepared n Listening to everyone n Sharing the load of work n Discuss what to do if a student breaches the contract. Eddy & D'Abate, 2016

+ During the team project: n Have students commit to contract: n Students abiding to the contract n Students breaching the contract n Students provide team evaluations (i. e. , individual feedback to each member) Eddy & D'Abate, 2016

+ After the team project: n Have groups evaluate their group behavior. n Discuss changes they would make to improve group behavior. Eddy & D'Abate, 2016

+ How do we monitor group work? n Group accountability log/contracts n Online discussion forum n Meeting sign-up sheet n Google documents n Weekly reports n Weekly peer evaluations n Other examples? ? ?

+ How should we grade group work?

+ Percentage of course grade n How much does group work count towards the course grade? n 50%? n 20%? n Students with lower GPAs actually prefer a group project that counts 50% towards course grade. Hoffman and Rogelberg, 2001

+ Type of group work n Smaller projects – not everything has to be graded (randomly choose) n Larger projects

+ Students as the graders (i. e. , peer evaluations) n Students are not adequately trained to grade resulting in: n High grades for themselves n High grades for their peers n Implicit stereotypes may impact grading. n Professors can only observe a small portion of work by group n n Decrease social loafing and increase accountability Increase fairness in grading n Confidential questionnaire most preferred in evaluations. n Real-world implications Breneiser et al. , 2012; Dingel & Wei, 2014; Wagar & Carroll; 2012

+ Grading the group n Least preferred by students who: n Most preferred by students who: n Have more group n Have less group grade experience n Worked full-time n Older students n High GPAs grade experience n Worked part-time n Younger students n Low GPAs Barfield, 2003; Hoffman and Rogelberg, 2001

+ Grading the individual n Based on individual effort regardless of the overall quality of the group project. n Decreases the impact that social loafing has on groupmates. n Greater preference compared to group grading. Hoffman and Rogelberg, 2001

+ Hybrid grading n A combination of group outcome and individual effort. n Strongest preference by students n Successful with smaller group projects n Having input (i. e. , student evaluation) into the group grade n Students did not prefer Hoffman and Rogelberg, 2001; Taylor et al. , 2014

+ Tips and Suggestions

+ Suggestions for Improving Group Work (Team Projects) 1. Emphasizing the importance and relevance of teams and teamwork 2. Teaching team development and teamwork skills 3. Conducting team-building exercises cohesive groups 4. Determining method of team formation 5. Assigning a reasonable workload and establishing clear goals Hansen, 2006

+ Suggestions for Improving Group Work (Team Projects) 6. Requiring team members to have specific and assigned roles 7. Providing some class time for team meetings 8. Requiring team members to keep personal contributions file 9. Requesting interim reports and other feedback points 10. Using detailed peer evaluations as a part of grading team effort. Hansen, 2006

+ Elements of the Most Satisfying Group Experience Cooperation • • All group members worked hard and together Group members were cooperative Group members worked well together Team really came together Everyone worked hard to complete the project Everyone worked well together Everyone worked productively and motivated each other All group members contributed and were enthusiastic Leadership • Strong team leader or someone leading at all times • Organized leader • Team leader was very organized Relevancy • Working with real businesses makes it worthwhile • Relates to the real business world Hansen, 2006

+ Elements of the Most Satisfying Group Experience Clear Goals • Having a well-defined problem and examples of how it had been solved before • Clearly defined goals Specific Team Roles • All members knew what was expected of them • Had clearly defined roles • All members had their role and did their jobs Interim Reports or Checkpoints • Had deadlines and midpoint checks • Project guidelines and specific milestones • Checkpoints for progress • Set due dates throughout semester Hansen, 2006