Tips and Strategies for Successful Group Work

Planning an assignment or project to be completed by a group of students can raise lots of questions and concerns for an instructor: How should I form the groups? Do I let them choose or assign them? How do I make my expectations, and group member expectations, clear and understood? How do I support team functioning? What if conflicts arise? How do I assess students? While the last question is thoroughly covered in the article Assessing and Evaluating Group Work in Moodle, this article provides tips, strategies, and some tools that can make group work go smoothly.

Cultivate your course community early on

If you are planning to assign group work, consider being very intentional and proactive about establishing a classroom community at the very start of the semester. If students have not interacted at all in your course prior to the group work assignment, they may lack a foundation of knowledge and trust about their peers. Taking steps to create community also communicates that you value having students learn from each other. Some ideas for establishing a sense of social presence and trust in your community include

  • Allowing students to introduce themselves at the beginning of the semester to start making connections with classmates
  • Using Yellowdig in your course to provide a space for students to start and participate in conversation around course topics. (See the article “Get Your Students Talking with Yellowdig”)
  • Assigning lower stakes group work before a larger team project to begin creating a collaborative atmosphere.

Give explicit instruction on and support for teamwork

Short term, lower-stakes assignments (a small activity or a discussion, perhaps like the case study example in the introduction to group work article), may not require a fully-functioning team. But if you have a larger project planned, students might need support and guidance to develop teamwork skills. This is especially relevant to students if professions in your discipline require a lot of teamwork, and is critical if you intend to assess specific team working skills. In these cases, including these skills in your learning objectives ensures alignment of your objectives and activities. Some ideas include

Form the groups thoughtfully

  • Types of groups: Consider which type of group (Johnson & Johnson, 2005) would best fit your course or activity:
    • A formal groups, used for assignments lasting from one session to a few weeks
    • An informal, ad hoc group used for quick, intermittent assignments such as discussions
    • And ongoing group that might last a whole semester and include a commitment to each other’s academic and social well-being.
  • Group size: Keep groups small (3 or 5 members) to avoid scheduling challenges for synchronous meetings, if applicable, and to make sure everyone participates (Smith Budhai, 2016). Use odd-numbered group sizes so groups cannot be evenly split on any decision (Smith Budhai, 2016).
  • Student choice: Moodle’s Group choice activity enables students to select their own group, which in turn automatically assigns them into Moodle Groups. This works well if you create groups based on a topic of interest and gives students a sense of agency which increases engagement.
  • Manually creating groups: A common reason to manually create groups is to diversify them in terms of skills or perspectives. The former can replicate how many real-world teams operate; the latter can expand learners’ knowledge and maximize alternative and forward-thinking solutions to problems and tasks.
    • If you choose to create groups manually, try to ensure there is at least one strong leader and avoid creating a group composed only of students who are more introverted (Smith Budhai, 2016).
    • One creative way to form diverse groups is letting students group themselves into roles they either want to assume in the group or according to their skill set. Then, create groups by choosing one student from each role/skill for each team.
    • Some tools you might use to gather information before forming groups include a Google Form survey for group creation, tailored to the skills and knowledge applicable to your assignment; a True Colors Personality Quiz or Communication Style survey, which can not only help you group students but can give them insight into themselves and their group members to improve understanding and communication; or a Clifton Strengths Assessment or skills inventory with relevant skills listed, to help balance out group skills and abilities

Help groups establish themselves

Groups, especially formal and ongoing groups, may need assistance building high levels of trust between group members (Poole & Zhang, 2005; Jarvenpaa et al., 1998, 1999). Online groups need to develop bonds and relationships with each other. Some ways that you can help students develop these bonds include

  • Assigning low-stakes, fun activities like selecting team names and mascots
  • Assigning relationship-building exercises including ice-breaker and virtual getting-to-know-you activities
  • Assigning initial “low-stakes” group activities so students get to know each other and can work better in group assignments

Set clear expectations

To be successful on any assignment, students need to understand what you expect from them. When they work in groups, it is also important that their expectations of each other are reasonable, clear, and inline with your expectations. Some ways to help ensure well-communicated and agreed-upon expectations include:

  • Recording a screen capture of you talking through how to use any new technologies that are required for the group assignment. This helps students see and hear exactly how to approach group work and helps decrease confusion if they are new to the particular learning tool.
  • Knowing your group work “why” and communicating it with students to maximize buy-in.
  • For more complex or ongoing group projects, having teams create and/or complete a group contract in which students have agreed-upon expectations, roles and responsibilities (De Meyst and Grenier, 2023).
  • If appropriate for the project, letting students take on a particular role on the team. See “Possible Roles on teams” for ideas 
  • Reminding students that they are expected to work out their problems, about positive teaming behaviors, a team-first attitude and perhaps grade interdependence (Dool, 2007)
  • Outlining the steps you expect students to take for resolving conflict (Online Learning Insights, 2016)
  • Setting benchmarks or milestones that allow for natural times for feedback (Online Learning Insights, 2016)
  • Setting clear expectations for any group projects and communicating them to students. In particular, ensuring students understand how they will be evaluated and graded. (See Assessing and Evaluating Group Work in Moodle)

Monitor/support group work processes once they begin

Identify and communicate how you will give feedback to the teams on their work and progress. Maintain a presence to let students know that you are aware of their activity, but don’t be overly active, as this can limit students’ active participation (Pearson, 1999; Rovai, 2007). Consider whether you want their communication and project-tracking to be via a medium that you can see (Moodle Forum, Google file comments, tools like Monday.com to which you are invited), or if you’ll rely on periodic check-ins with group members for reports on team functioning through surveys, team logs, etc.

If conflict arises, go over the contract again, keep everyone on the same page; offer advice and food for thought; mediate, but don’t solve the problem for them and if needed, speak directly with a student (Dool, 2007).

Resources

Companion Articles

For more help with group work, see these companion articles:

References / Further Reading