Working with groups

Discussion is vital if students are to understand their subject. Meaning cannot be conveyed directly but needs to be constructed within each student. The negotiation of meaning through discussion is one of the primary purposes for working with small groups - whatever they may be called.

Students usually work alone, the advantages of working collaboratively with others include: exposure to a variety of ideas and points of view, the personal and interpersonal benefits which result from co-operative activity, the development of communication skills, the ability to work creatively with ideas and to argue logically. Working with a small group can encourage the development of understanding in a challenging but safe environment. However, merely meeting as a small group does not guarantee these outcomes; many small group meetings are mini-lectures, or a sterile rehashing of half-understood quotations. The following simple ideas and techniques can improve the quality of small group work.

Establish ground rules:

all groups have ``ground rules''; these are usually implicit and in terms of effective small group work they are often unhelpful, e.g. that the lecturer is the only person who can decide what to do next, the lecturer always has to comment on every student comment. The ground rules are often about politeness, power and defensiveness. If you want different ground rules then you will have to talk about this at the start and establish explicit ground rules, e.g. everybody should contribute, all have the right to be heard, etc. Decide roughly what you want and discuss this with the students.

Pay Attention to the tone:

interaction in a small group is influenced by its ``atmosphere'' and ``tone''. This influences the amount of involvement with that group and the amount of risk that people will be prepared to take. Time spent in encouraging the group to get to know and respect each other is never wasted.

Structure is important:

students are happier to work if the benefits they hope to get are clearly visible to them. Students respond to clear statements of aims and objectives. This means that tutors have to plan and be clear of these, not just turn up and hope that somebody has something to say about the lecture, etc.

Variety sustains interest and involvement:

there are many ways of working with small groups. Many of them require very little extra effort and little risk. Using the same approach each meeting is safe but not likely to increase motivation and involvement.

Students can do it themselves:

groups can operate effectively without constant intervention from a tutor. The tutor's role is to facilitate, not to dominate. If students are clearly briefed they can lead the group.

Presentation helps:

if students are helped to make effective presentationsin small groups this can help self-esteem and their future work. In the early stages group members will be very worried about giving presentations; you can invite the group to discuss this, to consider what good and bad experiences they have had in the past. Working in pairs or threes will help. You can help students leading discussions by not sitting in the most prominent seat, by resisting the temptation to talk too much yourself and by being encouraging. You should discuss what you expect from presentations with students and give them clear guidelines.

Give feedback:

students presenting ideas or leading the group need to be given sensitive and helpful personal feedback by both the tutor and the group members. The kind of feedback that is most likely to be effective is characterised by the following:

It will be descriptive rather than judgmental.

It will be specific rather than general.

It will be balanced in terms of positive and negative elements.

It will refer to things the student can do something about.

Some tips

Use a name map:

on board if available, or use badges/labels, etc., encourage the use of names until all remembered.

Agenda:

clarify the agenda at the start, display and refer to it, change as things move on. Involve students in devising the agenda.

Terrible discussions:

start by asking students to recall one excellent and one awful discussion. Get students to exchange experiences in pairs or threes. Pool and discuss ideas, including yours.

Pyramid:

give students a task to do alone, then discuss in pairs, then as whole group to compare conclusions. (Can add intermediate stage, as fours, if group large enough.)

Buzz groups:

when group gets stuck set a brief question in pairs, e.g. ``what questions are outstanding?''

Case studies:

can devise these yourself or get half group to devise case study for other half. Can also get students to generate questions for each other.

Notes:

ask one student to take notes for whole group and circulate, share this around group.

Furniture:

if possible, experiment with layout and see what effects it has, involve students in this.

Circular questioning:

in response to questions, try sending the question back with: If you were to ask . . . her response to that question what might it be, the person she referred to can be anyone the student might know or know of.

This page mostly adapted from Gibbs G & Habeshaw T (1989) Preparing to Teach - An Introduction to Effective Teaching in Higher Education.