Pedagogy: Group Projects
Oct. 1st, 2008 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rockwoodThis 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
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
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New Friend
Date: 2008-10-05 05:01 pm (UTC)I'm intrigued to discover that you contributed to the Serenity game; that's one I've considered trying.
As for group projects, they can work beautifully if all the students on a team are equally motivated and capable of doing the work. Otherwise, the best student or the one most determined to get a good grade winds up doing most or all of the work for people who don't care or can't perform. That may be an accurate prediction of the real-life work environment, but it tends to generate very unhealthy work habits and negative emotions.
Re: New Friend
Date: 2008-10-05 05:12 pm (UTC)You and corduroybard do have a point there. And the reading I've been doing for my Classroom Management and Effective Discipline class spends a fair amount of time on the subject; the textbook we're using suggests that one of the likliest solutions is to have the group work together, but to assess each individual separately (at least to some extent), so that group members can provide support for each other, but aren't actually beholden to one another for their grades.
And re: Serenity, that was the first publication I was involved in---quite exciting! However, the actual game system has been revised extensively in more recent books by the same publisher, and the generic core book is almost out; just FYI. The Serenity book is great for ideas and setting material (and does work fine in terms of the game), but if you want the most current version of the rules, the Cortex Core Rulebook should have enough in it to run a Serenity themed game on its own.
Re: New Friend
Date: 2008-10-05 07:37 pm (UTC)Ask students about their prior experience with group work. If they're good at it and enjoy it, you should have few problems. If they hate it, find out why: a likely reason is they were never taught teamwork, just thrown together and told to do it. So consider teaching how to organize and assemble a group project effectively, and monitor the progress so you can respond if they start making mistakes.
Giving individual grades is a good idea.
I'll keep an eye out for the core rulebook as well as the Serenity book.
Re: New Friend
Date: 2008-10-05 08:16 pm (UTC)Which sounds like common sense, but hey---I can definitely remember a lot of my past teachers who never bothered to try and teach us those skills! No wonder it's something the Master's program hits on so thoroughly.
Re: New Friend
Date: 2008-10-06 12:45 am (UTC)Re: New Friend
Date: 2008-10-06 05:46 am (UTC)