Session+Two

= __**​​SESSION TWO: REFLECTION ON GROUP ASSIGNMENTS**__ =

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Think back to an experience you had working with groups (either online or face-to-face). What was one challenge you had with this experience? Please add your challenge to the table and offer strategies to address the challenges posted by others.=====


 * ~ Face-to-Face Challenge ||~ Strategies ||~ Online Challenge ||~ Strategies ||
 * //Use the rows in this column to describe face-to-face group work challenges you have faced.// || //Use the rows in this column to suggest strategies for the posted face-to-face group work challenges.// || //Use the rows in this column to describe online group work challenges you have faced.// || //Use the rows in this column to suggest strategies for the posted online group work challenges.// ||
 * ​ ​ (Brandy) Getting participants to contribute equally to a group project. || ​ (Jim) This was my top choice as well. I have used different strategies over the years. One of the more effective ones was to use peer evaluation in the final grade, e.g., students rate the contribution of their team colleagues and their team leader. More dramatic, which gets the students attention and promotes participation, is my removal of a student from the group due to absences and/or non-contribution and give them an alternative task and assessment away from the computer lab. I have a double-wide room with instructional on one side and a lab on the other. So the "offending" student is assigned book work with a traditional assessment in their future, while his/her colleagues are having an enjoyable time interacting with one another and using the computers. It is dramatic, but contributes to success in the long haul.

(Linda) I attended a CE on group work a few years ago and she had some really good ideas on getting groups to participate (this is for school age but it could work with adults as well) in a face-to-face setting. She had pre-set jobs- leader, time keeper, materials person, and information recorder. She had a different color sticker for each job and put those on the desks, moving them from person person every day they were using groups. Everyone had to help with whatever the problem was, but everyone had a specific job to do as well. The leader was the only one who could ask the teacher questions so it was easier for the teacher to handle questions from groups. If the project was to be done outside of class, jobs could be created and rotated on a regular basis.

( ** Tyann) I think that the readings for Session Two had some good suggestions: in Stage 2 of the four stages the suggestion was to decided on what each person would be responsible for with structures and deadlines of assignments and in Stage 3 keep in touch with how and who is completing their assignments as far as deadlines are concerned. In addition a check off list for each participant might help. ** || ​ **​ (Peggy) The biggest problem in online groups I have had is the team member who fails to complete his/her task(s). This causes the other members to have to scramble to complete that portion by the deadline. Resentment then becomes evident in the discussion area. Also, the offender's apology does little to alleviate the hard feelings. ** || another aaaa** (Tina) This problem almost always develops when trying to integrate group work. One practice to alleviate scrambling at the end of a project would be to have group members to peer evaluate periodically throughout the time frame of the project. This might nudge those non-workers into pulling their weight.

(Tyann) I am wondering if once assignments are made a check off list should be presented with dates of completion. These would be from each member of the team that included their responsibilities to the project. In addition the participants would be graded according to the completion of their tasks as well as a grade for the completion of the projects. In the case of eLearning a "C" for their work and another "C" for completed Project. ** ||
 * ​ (Rhonda) A team member that tends to fulfill their role as well as infringe on the roles of others. || **(Peggy) The overachievers can be hard to rein in, especially in group projects. I assign specific roles and/or tasks and explain that the grade is only based on this criteria. Sometimes a private email is necessary to issue a reminder that others need to complete their assigned tasks or their grade may suffer. This is sent in a positive tone where I recognize their enthusiasm but urge them to give the others a chance to earn a grade.** || I have not worked with a group in an online setting.

(Jim) I have not worked with group activities online.

(Barb) It is helpful if these over-achievers can help/teach others who want or need their help. Providing some good guiding questions may also help as well as providing "extending" activities for those who are ahead of the schedule. ||  || (Katie) I agree that self assessment might help. ||
 * ** (Peggy) My biggest challenge has been the team member who will not participate at all. This negativity sometimes bleeds over into the group assignment and breeds resentment because others must step in and complete the tasks for this member. ** || (Nona) I would speak to the non-participant to try to figure out their lack of enthusiasm. I have found that rather than laziness or uncooperativeness, those who do not participate often do so out of lack of self-esteem. They think that their contribution would not be good enough. If this is the case, encouragement might be sorely needed. || (Tina) While working on my Master’s Degree I had to work collaboratively on projects several times. We were pre-assigned groups, given a task and deadline and that was the extent of our guidance. It was a flop. We did actually try to communicate (we even made phone calls), but in the end all ended up working on projects independently – which we were given permission to do! Obviously, this instructor needed to read our material this week! || (Debbie) Perhaps a contractual agreement that included roles and rubric that included scoring criteria with expectations for group collaboration would have been helpful. If you were given permission to work independently, what was the purpose of assigning a group task to begin with? (Tina) I agree - it was a total flop. the instructor clearly had no idea how to faciliatate gruop work. It had been added in just for the sake of adding it in! ||
 * ​ (Nona) Participants who are perfectionists and who become severely stressed out when other members do not take things as seriously as they do. || (Patsy) As a perfectionists myself, sometimes we just need to be told to slow down and not worry about others - you can only do so much. Just do your best work and try to not worry so much about the others. I know from personal experience usually the others work is adequate - I just want more so it's really me. This is a good place for the teacher/facilitator to help also. || (Debbie) While participating in training to become an online facilitator I was placed in a group by the instructor. We were given a group agreement of sorts and asked to describe our strengths and weaknesses. It was basically up to the group to select the leader and it usually defaulted to the first one to get online for the week. Knowing I was going to be traveling one of the weeks, in the first week I jumped in and took charge. When it cam to the week I was traveling, I jumped in at the beginning of that week, indicated my predicament, and offered to put the presentation together provided all in the group would have their work submitted by a date that was earlier than required, but had to be due to my schedule. I worked exceptionally hard and others submitted their part of the assignment early, but I worried the entire week and caused myself undue stress! I know deadlines exist but life also sometimes gets in the way. How could we handle this as online facilitators. I know what I do (I allow time to complete), but maybe I should not be as understanding! || (Linda) As far as the deadlines for even the regular assignments in our courses, I think we all try to be as flexible as we can because we know what it is like to work full time and take these courses, some of us doing it with young children, as well. If someone lets me know there is a reason they are getting a little behind in a course, I let them know I appreciate the heads up and usually they jump back in as soon as they can. With a group project, however, that would be more complicated to handle online and with things like vacations, medical issues, etc. that come up in our courses. In the one instance I had to work on a group project for elearning I ended up a group of one:( I know personally I don't like waiting on (counting on) someone else to get a part of a project done. Of course it would be easy to have a rubric that each participant could email us to evaluate the entire group's participation, like Jim mentioned. Does anyone have group projects in their elearning course? How does it go? ||
 * (Patsy) The student who does all the work and then lets everyone else take the credit for work they did not complete || ( Debbie) I think the best way to eliminate the problem of one student doing all of the work is to assign roles and develop a rubric for group work. There are plenty available at Rubistar if you aren't sure how to evaluate group assignments. Students need to understand that each person needs to contribute equally!! || (Barb) Even with rubrics for evaluating work, the timing becomes an issue when working with a group. If I need to complete an assignment, I plan time when I can do so. If others in the group haven't done their part - if my work depends on their - or in reverse, if someone is waiting on me, there can be difficulties. In posting and conducting peer-reviews in our online courses, someone will state that others haven't posted early enough for them to review. Others post their work the last day of the session and then want to know why they didn't receive reviews. || (Kathy) Maybe asking participants to evaluate their own contributions to the group work would help. Most of the participants are teachers, and they might see their contributions in a more accurate light when required to rate themselves.
 * (Barb) The student who doesn't observe timelines, but is/ was always "going to do it" - makes everyone else late or upset. || (Katie) If this problem grows, I ask for specific assignments with a deadline. The entire group can't suffer. ||  ||   ||
 * (Kathy) One problem I have had with face-to-face group work is getting the group to begin right away and do meaningful work. It seems that some groups take a very long time to get focused and make progress. They kick into high gear when a deadline is imminent. || (Katie) When managing group work, I set deadlines for the group so that procrastination is not such an issue. Groups will usually kick it in gear even with these small deadlines.

(Jim) I reserve time at the end of each class session, during the group project work, to conduct a debrief in which each group reports out their progress, including work completed, challenges encountered, and identified problems. We brainstorm for solutions. I also use check ups in which the groups show their work to-date at key intervals. For example, for projects involving web site development, groups will present their work for class feedback. An additional upside is that groups can see what other groups are doing and often times try harder if their work is behind or not the same quality. || (Kathy) The experience I have had working with a group in an online setting has been mostly when developing a course. There has been the one participant who will not complete her tasks on time, or at all, offering a variety of excuses and then submitting very inferior work long after the deadline. Another problem has been that the final product does not seem to flow and have a clear "voice". It seems to be more of a compilation of several different styles and levels of thoroughness. ||  ||
 * (Connie) One problem that I have experienced is the reluctance to participate in a group of people who are strangers. The person I am thinking of would not speak but volunteered to be the "recorder" for the group. I am not sure that she actually gained the knowledge that was the expected outcome. || (Jim) I monitor the dynamics of the groups. When I observe a "reluctant" participant, I will meet with the group leader/coordinator to see if their intervention/encouragement might help. I like to see if peer-to-peer can serve as a solution. I will at times also speak to the "reluctant" informally, asking how is the group work going, are they enjoying the project, and such. With that said, I do not structure my group projects with a "recorder" role. I prefer task responsiblities in support of the overall project, which are more measurable. Plus, while they receive a subtantial grade for the group work, I include a formal assessment component to measure achievement of expected learning outcomes. || (Connie) I experienced problems with online group work as a participant. The problem with this experience was a management issue. As some have stated above, the distribution of labor was not exactly equal. We ended up completing part of another members research and written assignment in order to receive credit for the project. The working members of the group decided to meer face to face and combined our efforts to get things done. ||  ||
 * (Katie) One challenge I am facing is chosing the group members in a face-to-face or an online class. A teacher's perception at times is different than the students. || (Jim) I use different approaches depending on the time in the school year (speaking of face-to-face only here). The first project of the school year is done based on my previous experiences with students, along with random assignments of those new to my classes. The second project is team captains selecting the group members, with seniors usually taking on the role as team leaders/coordinators. I will usually assign teams in the third project to change up dynamics and to spread skills and abilities among groups. And in the final semester team project, I go back to the "draft by rounds" of selection. This does not entirely eliminate the challenges, but helps in managing the risks associated with group projects, in my mind. || ​ (Katie) I have had experience with working as a member of a discussion group in a post- grad class. The professor set-up the groups and some were more active than others. Our group got close and our work style was compatible. We were working thru the writing process and the group was helpful. I will use this strategy in another class. ||  ||
 * ||  || (Donna) How would you handle the situation where a group member drops the course after Session Three? || (Linda) Maybe divide the dropped participants' tasks among the remaining members of the group so just one person doesn't get overwhelmed?

(Donna) I would be very unhappy if this took place in a group where I was a member. I also wory about participants who go AWOL and fail to communicate the fact they are dropping the course with the facilitator. ||
 * (Janet) - I have not utilized group work in an eLearning course, but in face-to-face group work, I have sometimes been disappointed to observe a dominant personality with inferior ideas run over a more reserved personality with superior ideas. How can I encourage group members to demonstrate support for an idea they prefer, in spite of the loud push from another viewpoint? || (Brandy)-In my Dance classes I have students working on a group project together create a "contract". In this contract they create their own set of rules and consequences (which I later approve and they sign.) I have them create rules in the areas of: attendance, attitude, cooperation, and participation. They will often include surprizingly detailed ways to deal with bossy members and non-participants. If trouble erupts (as it often does for teenagers) I have them refer to thier contract to resolve the dispute. It sounds crazy but, I will never do a large project in the future without one. The kids are very good and governing themselves if given the opportunity. || **(Tyann) The only group project I have worked with online was the with Donna and she had each of us contribute something to each area or item in the course. I thought the process was wonderful. I am not sure there were any challenges because she gave us clear directions and deadlines. Maybe one challenge was when we voted on what would be in the final course I seem to like other people's suggestions.**

(Donna) The group feedback/review/revision process for course design has been a huge success! This is a great group project. || This experience was just a fantastic group to work with. When everyone does a high-quality job in a timely manner, group work produces great results! As you mentioned, the fact that Donna provided clear directions, expectations and time-lines kept items progressing. These items, clear directions, expectations, and time lines were/ are vital. ||
 * ** (Tyann) In a face to face group project I have had problems with one strong personality wanting to take over the whole project and discounting any of the work that others have contributed. ** ||  ||   ||   ||