How do I Implement Successful Collaborative Group Work?

Structure and Strategies

Collaborative learning: Students work together in teams for an extended period to complete a graded task/project.

Structure Strategy
1. Prepare for Group Work
  • Align collaborative learning with student learning outcomes.
  • Articulate a clear discipline-specific rationale for the use of group work.
  • Carefully consider group formation and size; a team of three to five students is more manageable.
  • Generate checklists for monitoring group process and products.
2. Facilitate Group Process
  • Focus process on the expectations associated with positive interdependence. 
  • Teach students good group work skills and process.
  • Help students establish group norms and develop a group contract.
  • Assign roles. Provide the checklist for group process.
3. Clarify Group Task/Project
  • Focus task on the expectations associated with individual and group accountability.
  • Design a complex and multifaceted task that requires group effort.
  • Explain the group task and expected product; provide written instructions and rubric.
  • Help groups identify individual expectations and contributions.
4. Monitor Progress
  • Schedule in-clasas team meetings to observe process.
  • Walk around and answer any questions as needed.
  • Schedule regular check-ins to guide process and provide feedback.
  • Set timelines for interim report of group process. Preemptively address free-riding issues.
5. Monitor Task/Project
  • Break the task into steps. Require each member to keep track of contributions.
  • Set timelines for submissions of each step.
  • Review task. Provide formative assessment/feedback.
  • Review interim self and peer evaluations. Intervene to support equal contriubtions to group task.
6. Schedule Presentation of Task/Project
  • Provide instructions for group presentations.
  • Allow group members to choose their presentation format. Encourage the use of multimedia.
  • Ask the audience to post questions and feedback to Zoom chat.
  • Debrief the group project for the entire class. Revist objectives. Summarize main points.
7. Include Reflection on Process and Product
  • Have each student submit a critical reflection that encompasses:
    • What went well in group work and what could be improved.
    • Quality of group contributions to task (self and peers).
    • How group work impacted their learning.

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