{"id":999,"date":"2015-07-14T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=999"},"modified":"2015-06-30T12:36:51","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T16:36:51","slug":"keys-to-facilitating-successful-student-group-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/07\/14\/keys-to-facilitating-successful-student-group-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Keys to Facilitating Successful Student Group Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Amanda Reilly<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Working in teams is an important part of being an effective learner and employee, yet students from high school through professional schools tend to groan when teachers assign a team project.\u00a0 How can teachers foster positive attitudes before, during and after group experiences?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not about loving the group work; it\u2019s about developing the skills,\u201d said Dr. Maryellen Weimer, professor emerita at Penn State Berks and the keynote speaker at the 2015 spring seminar of Simmons College\u2019s Center for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Weimer, a renowned authority on effective college teaching, presented on successful methods for encouraging effective student group work. She said that although professors typically encourage their students to be \u201cself-directed learners\u201d (rather than \u201cgroupies,\u201d who depend on others to learn), educators still must cultivate rewarding group experiences so that students can be productive in a variety of educational and professional scenarios.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Weimer detailed several ways in which teachers can facilitate student group work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Focus on the details.<\/strong> Early in their work together, group members must delineate expectations, clarify roles, understand each other\u2019s work styles, and commit to how they will work together. When group members establish their own group norms, they lay a solid foundation for their work, such as a group member \u201cbill of rights\u201d \u2013 what the group has a right to expect from each member.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Maintain an ideal size.<\/strong> What group size is most effective? Dr. Weimer argues that the ideal group is small enough for all members to share their opinions and large enough for diversity of views. A group with three members often does not possess enough diversity of thought and resources; in a group of six or seven members, some members may remain silent during discussions, and work may be divided inequitably. A group of five members is often ideal, eliminating the concerns associated with both smaller and larger groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Thoughtfully construct the group.<\/strong> With diversity in mind, teachers should assemble groups according to a common interest. If you allow students to self-select, it is important to help them build diverse teams. Self-selection, however, can cause introverted students undue stress and social anxiety. Weimer has found that students who don\u2019t know each other before they do group work often create the most outstanding work, whereas students who already know each other tend to socialize more and make less progress during group work, thereby not producing exceptional results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t underestimate peer pressure.<\/strong> Students who don\u2019t carry their own weight (e.g., \u201csocial loafers,\u201d \u201cfreeloaders\u201d) or who dominate and exclude (e.g., \u201calpha lone wolves\u201d) have to acclimate to the group dynamic. Group conflict can be a valuable opportunity for personal growth. Dr. Weimer asks that groups share techniques for effective communication and team member accountability with the class, ensuring that each student brings something to the experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Discuss and share best practices to help groups process problems.<\/strong> Facilitate group work by empowering groups to solve their own problems. This helps group members understand that they are responsible for their problems and that overcoming obstacles is part of the group work process. Collaboration is a valuable part of learning how to work effectively in groups, so it is essential for teachers to provide vehicles for students to communicate and share, such as online wikis or Google Docs. Urge groups to observe how other groups communicate, or assign groups the task of making study guides for other groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Use peer formative feedback and provide summative feedback.<\/strong> Students are more accountable to each other when they understand that a portion of their grade is based on peer formative feedback. Formative assessment can help students identify not only their strengths but also opportunities for improvement. This type of process feedback can help groups with the parsing of duties, and assessment of their group needs. Also, remember that students place the most value on the teacher\u2019s summative feedback, typically conveyed through a final evaluation of a group\u2019s process and end product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Group collaboration is an essential skill for students to learn before they enter the professional world, and the collaborative classroom is an ideal place in which students can develop this skill. With a foundation with which to build better groups, students not only learn teamwork accountability and commitment, but also enhance their ability to master course content.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dr. Maryellen Weimer has a loyal following of educators from law, medicine, and business programs at colleges and universities across the country. More than 15,000 educators subscribe to her newsletter and read her weekly blog, The Teaching Professor Blog. If you are curious about how to incorporate learner-centered policies, practices, techniques, and approaches in your classroom, check out Dr. Weimer\u2019s teaching resources and strategies at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facultyfocus.com\"><em>www.facultyfocus.com<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Amanda Reilly is the Program Associate for HLS Case Studies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Amanda Reilly Working in teams is an important part of being an effective learner and employee, yet students from high school through professional schools tend to groan when teachers assign a team project.\u00a0 How can teachers foster positive attitudes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/07\/14\/keys-to-facilitating-successful-student-group-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-g7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":983,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/06\/16\/is-your-case-teaching-learner-centered-its-harder-than-you-think\/","url_meta":{"origin":999,"position":0},"title":"Is Your Case Teaching Learner-Centered? It&#8217;s Harder Than You Think","author":"Amanda Reilly","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Amanda Reilly \u00a0 It might seem self-evident that teaching is learner-centered, but the traditional lecture and rote memorization model actually doesn\u2019t put students first.\u00a0 To address this issue, Dr. Maryellen Weimer wrote Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Dr. Weimer, professor emerita at Penn State Berks and 2015\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":974,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/05\/26\/top-challenges-for-case-study-programs\/","url_meta":{"origin":999,"position":1},"title":"Top Challenges for Case Study Programs","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"May 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What gets in the way of case study adoption? The Case Studies Affinity Group, a consortium of Harvard-affiliated case programs, took up this question during its quarterly meeting on May 12. The Affinity Group welcomed as panelists Carolyn Wood, Assistant Academic Dean\u00a0& Director of SLATE and the Case Program, Harvard\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":673,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/12\/17\/5-questions-with-dr-lisa-rohrer\/","url_meta":{"origin":999,"position":2},"title":"5 Questions with Dr. Lisa Rohrer","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"December 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Lisa Rohrer will tell you that she\u2019s \u201cdrunk the case studies Kool-Aid.\u201d She has been writing and teaching case studies for years, and as the newly appointed executive director of the Case Development Initiative, she\u2019ll be overseeing the biggest source of case studies at Harvard Law School. We sat down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Development Initiative Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Development Initiative Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-development-initiative-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1099,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/04\/05\/the-classroom-experience-prosecutorial-discretion-in-charging-and-plea-bargaining-the-aaron-swartz-case-a-and-the-battle-for-unocal-case-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":999,"position":3},"title":"The Classroom Experience:  Prosecutorial Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining: The Aaron Swartz Case (A) and The Battle for Unocal Case Studies","author":"Alec Villalpando","date":"April 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Post by Logan Sawyer, Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Harvard Law School \u201cThat class was awesome,\u201d and \u201cYou should definitely do that again next year,\u201d were the first things I heard from students after the two case studies I taught in two different classes, at two different institutions.\u00a0The classes were\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/01\/14\/multiparty-negotiation-group-decision-making-and-teams\/","url_meta":{"origin":999,"position":4},"title":"Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"January 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Bordone, Thaddeus R. 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Scott Fruehwald, Contributing Editor at Legal Skills Prof Blog While legal scholars have written a great deal on improving legal education by adding experiential classes to the second and third years of law school, it is equally as important that law professors make changes in how they teach\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}