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[personal profile] 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

(no subject)

Date: 2008-10-01 09:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] j00j.livejournal.com
Group work has its place... My current field is extremely fond of it, and it's fortunate that in grad school the only real difficulty with it is scheduling (but then, I'm in a field that's generally known for being cooperative and helpful). That being said, my most valuable experiences of group learning have been in settings other than producing a standard sort of class project. The first experience was study groups in high school and college-- in a subject with really challenging material (accellerated chemistry/physics in high school, and linguistics in college), it's helpful to have more than one brain working on problems and making sense of the material-- people help each other. The other experience was a class project with a practical application-- we built a small computer lab for a nonprofit. A single person can't easily do that, certainly not in the amount of time we had. Plus again, more people for troubleshooting= better. But the standard group projects people do earlier in schooling do lay the foundations for this kind of teamwork. These are my current thoughts as a student, anyway.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-10-02 05:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] corduroybard.livejournal.com
Speaking personally group projects can be fun if they're administered correctly. That said, no student should ever be beholden for the inability, incompetence, etc. of their group mates, especially since they have no power to choose their groups. If given such power, those with fewer friends in the class will be left holding the bag. A student must be graded on only that which they have the power to control. At the most basic level they can't compel their group mates to action, which often leaves the group stranded by one slacker. I've been in that situation many times, it's no fun. Individual grades are better as offered as part of a group schematic. Give each student a piece and grade them only for their piece. Provide for cooperation by making teamwork a part of each student's piece. In this way, if they do all they can to make the project work including trying to get their slacker group mate(s) motivated, they are still deserving of an A.

New Friend

Date: 2008-10-05 05:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
I've been enjoying our conversation over on [livejournal.com profile] teaching so I added you to my Friends list and dropped by here to browse.

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.

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