Pedagogy: Group Projects

[rockwood]

This afternoon's preparation for a group microteaching (essentially, teaching a very short lesson in order to practice teaching at all) tomorrow evening went very well; it seems we have most things down, we're within the proper time frame, and I have the Powerpoint saved in multiple locations just in case technology strikes.

However, thinking about this assignment has got me thinking about group projects in general. From a purely personal viewpoint, they're definitely not my favorite teaching method; coordinating with other people is a pain, the grading can feel unfair,  and presentations can be difficult to practice when they rely on audience participation.

On the other hand, from a pedagogical standpoint, most of those are potentially good things. Learning to coordinate with other people, work around scheduling conflicts, and overcome differences in learning style or level of interest are certainly valuable skills in and of themselves. Group planning, timing, and similar abilities are improved when students have to make educated guesses how long some segments will take, and errors in calculation teach them to modify and revise on the fly. Even having student grades 'unfairly' linked to their group-mates can teach responsibility, management, and leadership.

Of course, if a group is too unwieldy or ill-prepared to face these issues, all that results is frustration and failure, for which the teacher is at fault. Rather than letting that happen, perhaps by starting out too heavy on the project side of things, the teacher can start out simpler: assign small groups that have to coordinate outside of class (only two or three people each), to help them learn how to schedule and manage their time properly; or start with larger groups that meet solely during class time, so they can work on interpersonal and group skills rather than time management. If possible, assigning both individual and group grades may be initially helpful, so that students can see how their personal performance affected the overall result, and moving to pure group assessment will the be less of a shocker.

On my personal list of pedagogical theories, group projects rate somewhere in the middle: they may take more time than their content is worth, but the learning they allow extends beyond the content area. I would save big group projects primarily for sophomore or junior level students, introduce the freshmen to the concept with smaller projects, and then keep a few truly complex or involved projects for the senior level students, giving them a chance to really take over and co-teach for a lesson.

Blessed be,
~Nathan

Comments

[garrettplc.livejournal.com]

It's very true that a student who feels powerless is likely to lose motivation; however, the issue then is that it's the teacher's job to ensure that they retain control.

For example, it doesn't have to be true that a single slacker can force the rest of the group to carry them or fail (or do worse, at least). The teacher can be sure to hold each student accountable for learning the group material, or for turning in separate components that they work on in a group; that way, the component grades can allow a teacher to see where a problem lies.

An effective teacher will perform these checks frequently over the course of a project; they can even have students perform peer evaluations of their group members, or record who does what work at what times. When a problem comes to light in these daily check-ups, the teacher can then speak with the student causing the issue; if they can be redirected to the task, the group has an opportunity to learn social and leadership skills. If they remain intentionally obstructive, the teacher can remove them from the group temporarily (or permanently) and provide individual counseling or similar.

An IN-effective teacher might let the situation run its course, and thus leave students powerless, but by combining group interdependence with individual evaluation (and possibly that peer evaluation I mentioned), the teacher can empower students to solve their own problems (vital to their feelings of efficacy; basically, their ability to control their own fate) and also monitor & adjust using their own authority when needed.

So, yes, you're right that it can teach exactly the wrong lesson if mishandled. And, unfortunately, a lot of teachers aren't effective teachers. As I'm doing my homework and studying for this Masters, I'm finding more and more about what the teachers I had in highschool and college did WRONG :-P However, things like this discussion are a good way to work out solutions to those problems. An effective teacher can counter them by planning ahead and adjusting in response to frequent evaluations.

Of course, the more frequent the evaluations, the greater the strain on the teacher's time and energy. A chapter I just read on the subject of cooperative group learning suggests that finding a workable balance between individual and group assignments within a project group can be the key to both managing time effectively, and also keeping everyone on-task and successful. Finding that balance, though, is something that requires effort and experience on the part of the teacher, as well as a knowledge of the students at hand. As a result, I like that chapter's suggestion to start students off working in pairs. This gives them the opportunity to learn group work skills (social, explaining, and leadership skills, as the book terms them), and gives the teacher some time to evaluate the temperament and habits of his class.

[corduroybard.livejournal.com]

You also should be concerned about the social dynamic that exists for students quite separate from your class. If you ask students to peer review (in essence to judge one another's performance) how will this be affected by outside social factors? No one wants to be a tattle tail or teacher's pet, or just plain unlikable. Setting aside the validity of the labels I believe we can recognize that they exist. While grades can motivate them to drop the hammer on a bad worker, the effect on the social dynamic must be considered. Depending on the stage of development it can be very important to promote a harmony among the student body and while actions that promote enlightened discussion are good, actions that may lead to grudges or ostracizing are not. Too often I believe teachers try to take a moral high road in ignoring the existence of a complex social hierarchy. Teachers actions should promote the dissolution of such separations. As much as possible teachers must avoid actions that could easily create ill will between classmates.

[garrettplc.livejournal.com]

Granted, but then, perhaps, teachers could incorporate a 'non-judgmental' form of peer review, as a way of teaching students how to give constructive criticism and positive feedback.

In which case it wouldn't serve the same purpose I'd originally suggested, but it would still use this opportunity to teach something useful. I'd go with: students conduct peer review by writing comments or suggestions for their group members. The teacher then grades each student (probably in a 'check-minus, check, or check-plus' simple scheme for whether or not they did it at all) based on the comments they GAVE, not on the comments they received, and gives the students feedback about the feedback they left...if you get my drift :-)