Group work. When students hear this term some of them are happy, other scared. Some assume they will have to work for more than a classical individual assignment, others think it will be an easy ride. How the same term can have so many interpretations even when the context is the same for all students? First of all, I think the concept of learning in groups/communities is not well understood by students, and unfortunately, we teachers also lack knowledge about it (which make thinks more difficult for students!).

In any case, a good preparation for both students and teachers seems to be very much needed before any group assignment. For teachers, the a priori simple definition of the term group work, collaboration work and cooperation work needs to be clear. After reading the articles recommended for this topic (mainly Brindley et al 2009), a very important aspect that differentiate each of those terms is the GOALS, and whether they are individual or shared. Changing to the student perspective, but still related to the goals in the task, it is very important to clearly define such goals. Otherwise, this can create a lot of frustration in our students (Capdeferro & Romero 2012).

Something that I always think about when preparing groups assignments (no matter if it is a group work, collaborative or cooperation) is how the tasks are divided across the members of the group. Actually, when I was a student myself, I did not really like these assignments when the groups were randomly made, because I knew it was likely that one or two members of the group were not going to do almost anything…  And then, as teacher, I have had some students complaining about the little involvement of other classmates. When I saw the results of Capdeferro & Romero 2012, I got my idea confirmed. They actually highlight that the major source of frustration in students is imbalances in the level of commitment, which then translate into the level of outcomes produced by each individual member. How to you tackle that? This semester I have told my students that they really need to be honest not only with themselves, but also with the other colleagues. Also, I tried to let them known how important each individual is in a group, and how big impact their actions during the group activity will have in the entire group. I am not sure if this will improve anything, but I had to start with something!

Have a great week!

Photo by: Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalo – CC BY-NC-ND