This document discusses encouraging effective group work. It identifies common problems with group work like free riders and focuses on students' motivation and approaches to learning. The document suggests that group work can fail if students focus on grades rather than learning. It also provides strategies for designing group tasks, such as determining group goals and focusing on learning rather than grades, to help students engage more effectively. The document advocates using group work to help students develop knowledge and enhance learning.

1. Encouraging Effective Group Work6 May 2011Mo PamplinEducation Support TeamSchools of Arts and Social Sciences

2. ObjectivesIdentify common problems with group work and group-based assignmentsUnderstand students’ motivation when faced with a group taskRedesign a group task you have used before, or develop a new one

3. In your opinion...What is good about group work?Why does group work fail?

4. From a student’s perspective...What feedback have you had from students on group tasks/assignments/projects?

6. “That’s one thing I like about this whole course, that you are able to discuss with other people. You do feed off other people’s ideas and they feed off you too and the knowing grows and there’s a sort of cross fertilization going on.”Tempone and Martin 1999:184“ I didn’t like anything. We shouldn’t have to do group projects or any kind of individual research projects. I don’t think research projects will help us in our jobs in the future. It isn’t needed and is a waste of time.”Payne et al. 2006:445

7. Approaches to learningAcquiring factsMemorisingStoring informationChanging your mindsetInterpreting knowledge differentlyGenerating meaningSurface learningDeep learningDoing what is necessaryDoing it out of choice

8. How are students’ approaches to learning related to their attitudes to group work?

9. Payne et al 2006“Students ... resented the fact that ‘free riders’ were getting the same grade they got and recommended changing this policy. One student said that ‘having some of the project reflect individuals so that everyone is not getting the same grade’ would help group work.”“Interestingly, when students talked about grades, they were not concerned with what they were learning or doing; rather they were concerned almost solely with their grade and whether it was fair.”“Instructors can foster better goal attainment by encouraging students to focus more on learning and less on getting a good grade. If groups can determine the group’s goals, and the members’ goals, in a way that they focus more on tasks ... and learning rather than getting a good grade, then the likelihood of a successful group project increases.”

10. Tempone and Martin 1999Six approaches to group work:Work is done individually because the group gets in the way of the assignmentWork can be shared out among the group for expediencyThe group is used as a way of moderating ideas and contentThe group helps individuals learn by generating additional good ideasThe group helps members develop their knowledge and assists learningThe group is a mechanism for learning in general

11. Four approaches to assignment completion:Completing an assignment expedientlyCompleting an acceptable assignmentTo enhance individual learningTo enhance and extend learning

13. Why do we ask students to work in groups, anyway?

14. Think back to a group task you have set.What did you hope students would gain from this task?Did they engage with it as you expected?If not, why do you think this was?How could you re-design the task?

15. ReadingBourner, J et al (2001). First-year undergraduate experiences of group project work. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 26 (1), 19-39.Garvin, J W et al (1995). Group projects for first-year university students: An evaluation. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 20 (3), 273-288.Gokhale, A (1995). Collaborative learning enhances critical thinking. Journal of Technology Education, 7 (1), 22-30.Jacques, D and Salmon, G (2007). Learning in Groups. 4th ed. Abingdon: Routledge.McCorkle, D E et al (1999). Undergraduate marketing students, group projects, and teamwork: The good, the bad and the ugly? Journal of Marketing Education, 21, (2) 106-117.Payne, K et al (2006). Improving group work: Voices of students. Education, 126 (3), 441-448.Ramsden, P (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. 2nd ed. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer.Tempone, I and Martin, E (1999). Accounting Students’ Approaches to Group Work. Accounting Education, 8 (3), 177-186.