Teaching small groups

1. Teaching small
groups
Welcome!
We’ll get started at 11.05am
Please say hi in the chat box
when you arrive

2. Ways of working

3. Our ‘ways of working’ for today…
• Join in the discussion and activities
• Respect each other’s viewpoint
• Respectful use of mobile phones
• Value each other’s contributions
• Finish on time

4. By the end of this session, you will be able to:
• Discuss the role of the facilitator in small group teaching
• Discuss strategies to increase learner engagement (your
facilitator toolkit)

5. Check in…
How are you feeling about teaching small groups?

6. Session plan
1. Why teach in small groups?
2. The challenges
3. Building your toolbox

7. Why do we teach in small groups?

8. Why teach in small
groups?
Interactive
Communication skills
Active learning
Build confidence
Promote teamwork
Promote respect
Development of higher-order
thinking skills
Co-production of knowledge

9. Session plan
1. Why teach in small groups?
2. The challenges
3. Building your toolbox

10. What’s your biggest challenge with small
group teaching (face to face or online)?

11. Admin
problems
Group
problems
Individual
Student
problems
The Challenges with Small Groups…

12. Admin problems
Complaints about lack of parity
Facilitator time
Room availability
The Challenges with Small Groups…

13. Group problems
Dominant personalities
Info overload
Losing focus
Lack of group working skills
The Challenges with Small Groups…

14. Individual student
problems
The completely silent student
The disengaged student
The know-it-all student
The absent student
The Challenges with Small Groups…

15. Why do we ask students’
to have their cameras on?
• Aids communication – non-verbal queues
• Real time evaluation of teaching (nodding, confused looks
etc) (Miller, 1988; Mottet & Richmond, 2002)
• Encourage collaborative learning
• Higher satisfaction
• Builds educational relationships (student-student, tutor-
student)
• Fending off loneliness/isolation (Tsai et al., 2010).

16. Castelli, F. R., & Sarvary, M. A. Why students do not turn on their video cameras during online classes and an equitable and inclusive plan to encourage
them to do so. Ecology and Evolution.

17. Session plan
1. Why teach in small groups?
2. The challenges
3. Building your toolbox

18. Your role in
Small group
teaching…
Enable learning Manage the group

19. Your role in the
group
Enable learning
Open the session effectively
Identify key learning points
Ask questions to stimulate
thinking
Challenge assumptions and
misconceptions
Summarise the discussion

20. Your role in the
group
Manage the group
Plan for effective use of time and
activities
Keep the group focussed
Keep to time
Ensure all members contribute

21. https://www.impact.wales/resources/

22. Ingredients for Small Group Teaching
1. Know your audience and topic
2. Plan for effective use of time
3. Check your room (virtual or physical) and
resources
4. ‘Set the scene’
5. Kick things off
6. Have strategies at hand to make the most of
group discussion
7. Summarise and signpost

23. What tools do you use for learner engagement
in online SGT?

24. Online tools I
use…
Mentimeter –
online
polling/quizzing
Breakout rooms
for collaborative
working
Padlet as a
collaboration
board
Miro as a
collaboration
board

25. Facilitator toolkit…
Jigsawing Role-play
Research &
report
Buzz groups Mirroring Brainstorming
Ways of
working
Icebreakers
Anonymous
response
Paired
discussion
Snowballing
Purposeful
questioning

26. Examples of
SGT online in
Medicine
Split your learner group into two and ask them to argue different
sides of a debate, for example ‘palliative care is the role of all
healthcare practitioners’ – ask one half of the group to present the
case for the topic and the other half of the group present the case
against it. You can even swap the groups around half way through to
keep things lively and ensure a broad view of the argument is
presented.
In case-based learning, ask your learners to vote on the ‘next steps’,
for example offer two different diagnostic tests that could be
ordered first. The learners can then justify why they voted for their
choice of test.
In communication skills learning, prior to a Virtual Classroom
session, give each learner an item of medical jargon (this could be
emailed to them). Split the group into break-out rooms with a
partner and ask them to describe their terminology to their partner
in layman’s terms, and their partner then has to guess the
terminology. The terminology could be anatomical, physiological or
describing diagnostic tools or therapies.

28. By the end of this session, you will be able to:
• Discuss the role of the facilitator
• Discuss strategies to increase learner engagement (your
facilitator toolkit)

29. References and further reading
• Edmunds, S. & Brown, G. (2010) “Effective small group learning: AMEE Guide No. 48” Medical Teacher; 32: 715–726
• Jaques, D. (2003). "Teaching small groups." BMJ ABC of learning and teaching in medicine; 326(7387): 492-494
• https://www.impact.wales/resources/
• McCrorie, P. (2014). Teaching and leading small groups. Understanding Medical Education. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 123-36.
• Muller, J and Irby, D. (2005) “Practical Teaching: How to lead effective group discussions.” The Clinical Teacher; 2(1): 10–15.
• Schofield, S., & Dent, J. (2008). Getting Started… with Peer Tutoring in “Getting Started: a practical guide for clinical teachers” Dent, J. & Davis, M.
(Eds) Dundee: Centre for Medical Education
• Wood, D. (2003). “Problem Based Learning." BMJ ABC of learning and teaching in medicine; 326(7384): 328-330
• Small Group Teaching (London Deanery e-learning module) Available at: http://www.faculty.londondeanery.ac.uk/e-learning/small-group-teaching
• Castelli, F. R., & Sarvary, M. A. Why students do not turn on their video cameras during online classes and an equitable and inclusive plan to
encourage them to do so. Ecology and Evolution.
• Reich, J., Buttimer, C. J., Coleman, D., Colwell, R., Faruqi, F., & Larke, L. R. (2020). What's lost, what's left, what's next: Lessons learned from the lived
experiences of teachers during the pandemic. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/8exp9 Accessed 20 December 2020
• Tsai, H.-H., Tsai, Y.-F., Wang, H.-H., Chang, Y.-C., & Chu, H. H. (2010). Videoconference program enhances social support, loneliness, and depressive
status of elderly nursing home residents. Aging and Mental Health, 14(8), 947–954.