Meaningful Group Work

Regardless of what discipline we work in, a constant challenge many of us face as educators is how to design meaningful group work, team activities, and exercises that students will find useful and which does not contribute to the dreaded "grouphate" phenomenon commonly expressed by many students. 

Recent research on group/team work focused on cooperative and active learning has given us some important insights into what makes for more meaningful group work, as well as some valuable insights into what we can do as educators to create and foster meaningful group work experiences for and with our students. 

Drawing on insights from research with both students and faculty, this teaching guide explores some ways we can go about improving our use of groups in the classroom, from designing more effective rubrics for individual and group assessment to exploring examples that offer insights into how we can more effectively design and assess the successes, and avoid the obstacles, of group work in our classes.

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• RESEARCH

  Examine selected research on meaningful group work: 

  Minero, E. (2019, January 11). Group Work That Works. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/group-work-works(opens in new window)

  Carrión, S. (2021, March 24). Facilitating Deep Learning With Group Work. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/facilitating-deep-learning-group-work(opens in new window)

  Using Zoom Breakout Rooms Effectively. Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University Bloomington. https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/guides/zoombreakouts.html

  Brame, C. J., & Biel, R. (2015). Group work: Using cooperative learning groups effectively. Center for Teaching. https://cft. vanderbilt. edu/guides-sub-pages/setting-up-and-facilitating-groupwork-using-cooperative-learning-groups-effectively.(opens in new window)

  Forsell, J., Forslund Frykedal, K., & Chiriac, E. H. (2021). Teachers’ perceived challenges in group work assessment. Cogent Education, 8(1), 1886474. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1886474(opens in new window)

  Hammar Chiriac, E., & Forslund Frykedal, K. (2011). Management of group work as a classroom activity. World Journal of education, 1(2), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.5430/wje.v1n2p3(opens in new window)

  Burke, A. (2011). Group work: How to use groups effectively. Journal of Effective Teaching, 11(2), 87-95.

  Hammar Chiriac, E. (2014). Group work as an incentive for learning–students’ experiences of group work. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 558. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00558(opens in new window)

  Orr, S. (2010). Collaborating or fighting for the marks? Students’ experiences of group work assessment in the creative arts. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(3), 301-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602931003632357(opens in new window)

  Forslund Frykedal, K., & Hammar Chiriac, E. (2016). To make the unknown known: assessment in group work amongst students. International Journal of Educational Research, 10(2), 149-162. 

• APPLICATION

  Ready to use meaningful group work in your teaching? Here are some ideas and strategies to get you started:

  One of the key factors in successful group work is being able to evaluate both individual work and group work, and to ensure students have a clear understanding of their responsibilities for each part (individual & group). One way to do this is by creating a team rubric and an individual assessment rubric(opens in new window), and to hand these out to students when you are first beginning group work activities.

  For online teaching, this article by the Inside Higher Ed(opens in new window) offers some useful tips and suggestions on managing groups in a fully online learning environment.

  Are you looking for group work ideas? Then check out these 4 group collaboration tips(opens in new window) from Faculty Focus, which include creating, investigating, critiquing, and games.

  Although faculty differ in their experiences, one way to consider improving group work is to match younger and older students together in groups so that older students can help play a peer mentoring role (PDF) for newer students, especially for first year students.

  When designing group work of any kind, make sure that students are given a clear set of guidelines about how these activities will help achieve one or more of the learning outcomes/objectives of the class, helping prevent the dreaded "grouphate."(opens in new window)

  Check out this slideshow on Group Work in Online Learning (Google Slide) from CSU Chico FDEV.