Group Work

IntroductionA graphic showing two pie charts. The top chart shows what group work is supposed to teach (Communication, Responsibility, Collaboration, Teamwork). The bottom one shows the same chart with one category added that covers the majority of the pie: Trust No One. This humorously suggests a different real-life takeaway.

The phrase “group work” can immediately elicit a less-than-positive response from students for a variety of reasons.

Working on a project with classmates can be frustrating if there are not clear guidelines and support built into the assignment. If a group project is designed thoughtfully, it can be a meaningful and effective learning experience. Here are some of the ways you can set students up for success with group work.

A Closer Look

Tips for Successful Group Work

Consider the following three tips to help promote successful group work:

Tip 1: Provide Purpose

  • Establish the value of group work in real-world situations. For example, share that teamwork is a common job interview topic, and that group work is something that students can draw from in an interview. You might also add that many employers report that new graduates lack experience in team leadership, and group work is a way to improve these skills.
  • Assign a project that is too large and complex to accomplish by students working individually in the time given.

Tip 2: Provide Support

  • Provide students with practical support and resources for working in teams. For example, provide an article about working in teams or tips on how to work collaboratively online to help students get started.
  • Provide students with social support. For example, provide student teams a place to begin (like a group discussion forum) and give them guiding questions to answer about themselves, their roles in the project, and how they will communicate. In the online environment, encourage them to post photos or bios of themselves.
  • Provide technological support for live/synchronous communication tools (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) or collaborative document sharing (Google Docs, Word Share links, etc.). There are many more tools available (too many to mention here!). Students can still have the autonomy to find a way to communicate what works for them, but giving them some suggestions will be helpful.

Tip 3: Provide Opportunities for Peer and Self-Evaluation

  • Include peer and self-evaluation as an accountability measure, especially if group work is part of a larger project in your course. Frustrations with accountability are common in group projects, so it helps to include these evaluations.
  • If group work is part of a longer project that takes up more than half of the semester, consider requiring students to submit evaluations midway through the project and again at the end of the course. This way, students get formative feedback from group members and learn the value of working on a team.

Additional Best Practices

  • Provide detailed information about group work as soon as possible. For example, you might include information about a group project in your course syllabus and provide a time frame for when the group work will take place (e.g., weeks 3-6 or the entire semester), and if the work will be submitted in stages, indicate at what points in the course those submissions will be made.
  • Provide information about how assigned groups will be decided. If you are assigning groups, let students know how they will be notified about who is in their group.
  • Remind students that you are available to offer support and answer questions that the group may have regarding the project.
  • Develop strategies to monitor participation. If students are having trouble with group members who aren’t participating, it can be helpful if the team can produce artifacts that show group members are not participating (such as discussion forums in Canvas, chat records, Google Doc participation, phone meeting notes, and so forth).

Example Assignment

Learners in a health promotion program planning course are divided into teams and given a case study based on a real-life company. Each group creates a strategic plan for a proposed wellness program and presents it to a CEO.

Tip 1: Provide Purpose

A page in the syllabus titled “Group Project Information” explains the purpose of the assignment. It states that the goal is to give students experience working in a team in a situation similar to what they may encounter in their future careers.

Tip 2: Provide Support

The “Group Project Information” page also includes:

  • Tips on working effectively in groups
  • Suggestions for collaborative tools
  • A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section

In addition, each group is given a dedicated discussion board forum to help members connect and communicate.

Tip 3: Evaluation

Students receive a team assessment rubric at the beginning of the semester. At the end of the semester, they use this rubric to evaluate both themselves and their peers.

Additional Resources