Small Group Teaching

Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
ORHEP Project

Small-Group Teaching

www.orhep.brad.ac.uk

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Session learning outcomes
By the end of this session, you will have:
• identified and discussed characteristics of small
group teaching, within your own subject
• identified some common problems associated
with small-group teaching and evaluated some
potential tutor interventions


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Session overview
• Introduction & Context
• Disciplinary Contexts
• Problems in small-group teaching
• Teaching through discussion
• Review


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What we are specifically not
engaging with in this session…
• Issues of students working in groups
together on assessed tasks, and theories
of group formation, team roles etc.
• but see
http://www.learnhighergroupwork.com/


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Small Group Teaching - Context
• Types/‟genres‟ include:
– „tutorials‟, „seminars‟, „labs‟, „fieldwork‟,
„online discussion groups‟, Problem-based
learning (PBL) groups, action learning sets,
workshops, syndicates…
• Sizes of „small‟ groups can vary
considerably www.orhep.brad.ac.uk

• Purpose and role may vary considerably

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What size of group would you
consider not to be a “small” group ?
A. 10 – 15
B. 15 – 20
C. 20 – 25
D. 25 – 30
E. 30 - 35


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Context – educational role
• In comparison to large-group teaching,
small group teaching offers more
opportunity for interaction and
engagement:
– tutor-student interaction
– student-student interaction
• Learning in a social context www.orhep.brad.ac.uk


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Context - educational role
• Favoured for developing higher order attributes:
– Problem solving
– Critical thinking
– Self-Awareness
– „Functioning‟ rather than „Declarative‟ knowledge (Biggs &
Tang, 2007)

• Particularly through:
– Discussion www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
– Practical application
– Relation to real-world events & experiences

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Contextual factors
• Size of group
• Location, room, layout, furniture,
equipment
• Characteristics and diversity of group

• Resource & staffing issues to address


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Disciplinary contexts
What is the situation at your institution with
regard to small group teaching?

Here are a few questions to consider.



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Individual questions

– What types of small-group teaching are you involved
in at your institution?

– Are there typical „ways of practicing‟? If so, what are
they?


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– Are you aware of any examples of what you would
consider to be innovative small-group teaching
practice at your institution?

– What are the typical issues or challenges associated
with small-group teaching in your context?


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Problems in Small-Group Teaching (Ramsden,
2003: 149)

• teacher lectures rather than conducts discussion
• teacher talks too much
• difficult encouraging students to talk
• discussion limited to responses to tutor questions
• if preparation is required, student don‟t do it
• one student too dominant/ too quiet
• student focus is on solutions/answers more than
complexity


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Teaching & Learning Through Critical Discussion
(Garrison & Archer, 2000)

• Allows students to listen, integrate new
ideas, critique.
• Discussion phases:
– Early – identifying issues
– Middle – searching for resolution
– Late – evaluating conclusions


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Critical Discussion (Garrison & Archer, 2000)
• Discussion develops higher thinking skills,
in an environment where students can
relate to interests and experiences - links
„cognitive‟ and „affective‟ learning
outcomes
• “A distinct shift from the excessively
teacher-centred approach often www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
associated with the lecture.”

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Establishing group rules
One way to help make small group work a success is to establish some
ground rules at the first session.
Which of the following rules do you think is the most important:

A. Rudeness is not acceptable
B. If you can‟t attend, you should let your tutor know
C. The session should begin on time
D. Everyone is responsible for making the session a success
E. Everyone is expected to prepare and to have read the required
texts beforehand www.orhep.brad.ac.uk


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Other process techniques
e.g. Race, 2007: 151-154
– Rounds – Fishbowls
– Buzz groups – Brainstorming
– Syndicates – Pair Dialogues
– Snowballing – Leave the room
– Pyramiding


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Solutions to the problems?
(Ramsden, 2003: 149-151)
“At this point it is usual to provide a list of recipes
designed to overcome these familiar difficulties.
There are many effective techniques…But none
of them will succeed for long unless you clearly
understand the reasons for the problems. Just
for now, forget about detailed solutions: think
about what effective teaching consists of and
how you would try to implement its
prescriptions…”

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Review
Biggs and Tang (2007: 105):
“It helps to think of lectures and tutorials
as situations, in which a range of
teaching/learning activities can take place,
rather than prescriptions for a manner of
teaching.”


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Suggested reading
In preparation for the forthcoming seminar, you will find the following
readings helpful:
• Biggs & Tang - Chapter 8, pp. 140-143
• Ramsden - Chapter 9, pp. 149-151
• Race - Chapter 4
• Learn Higher Group Work
http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/learningareas/groupwork/home.htm
• English Subject Centre – Seminar Teaching:
http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/resources/seminars/index.php
• David Jaques (Oxford Brookes):
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/small-group/index.html
• Small Group Teaching (Nottingham University):
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pesl/resources/smallgroup/


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References
• Biggs. J. and Tang, C (2007) Teaching for Quality
Learning at University, Third Edition, Maidenhead, Open
University Press.
• Garrison, D.R. & Archer, W. (2000) A Transactional
Perspective on Teaching and Learning, Oxford,
Pergamon.
• Race, P. (2007) The Lecturer’s Toolkit, Third Edition,
London & New York, Routledge.
• Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education, Second Edition, London & New York, www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
Routledge Falmer.


Small Group Teaching

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