Click here to view the video transcript
I remember the first time I taught statistics. This was a long time ago, early in my teaching career, and it was the first or second day of class. I gave my students a statistics question to think about and I asked them to turn to their neighbour, and share their answers and try to put their heads together and come up with the right answer. And within about 30 seconds, the entire class was buzzing with students talking about statistics. I thought this was pretty exciting, and it’s the kind of group work that we’ll be talking about in this course.
We’re not talking about out of class group projects, although those are valuable, it’s a very different animal. We’re talking about spending five or 10, or 30 minutes of class time with students talking to each other, working in groups to solve problems or answer questions. Now, my statistics use there of having students turn to the neighbour was pretty light, it was pretty informal. The groups were small, just two or three students talking together. The students got to pick their own groups, right? And there was no commitments to that group beyond that brief interaction.
Now, in other contexts, in other teaching contexts, those choices around how the groups work could be different. You might have larger groups. You might, as the instructor decide who the groups are, and you might have persistent groups that last beyond just a single interaction. We’ll talk about all those choices later, but for now, just keep them in mind as we’re thinking about facilitating in-class group work.
When in-class group work goes well, it can be very exciting, with your classroom buzzing with noise as students talk to each other about the course content. To create those group work experiences where students are engaged and learning, you can’t just ask students to form groups and wait for the magic to happen. Effective group work requires planning and intentional structures to support student interactions.
Group work activities present instructors with lots of options. How big should groups be? Should students select their groups, or should you do so? What kind of tasks work best for group activities? Should student groups persist from class to class? How can you structure group time so that students use it effectively? There is no one right way to answer these questions, but this course should help you decide on answers that fit your teaching context.
Please note that this course is not about out-of-class group projects. Those pose a different set of opportunities and challenges. This course focuses on taking 5, 10 or 30 minutes of class time (on-site or online) to have students work together to learn something.
Discussions
How do your experiences with group work as a student shape how you facilitate group work as an educator now?
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.