Guidelines for Student Learning Groups
It can be hard to find time to prepare your students for effective group work. Below are some straightforward guidelines you can offer to your students to help them have successful group learning or team project experiences:- Make an effort to get to know everyone in a project group or team (or even a small class), and learn their names. This doesn’t mean you need to be an extravert; a simple hello and a smile makes a difference. Be aware of which people you may be giving more attention to.
- Consider an icebreaker. Icebreakers don’t have to be cheesy. Use them as a way to loosen people up and to get to know one another on a personal level, which can help people feel welcomed. Take care to consider the diversity of experiences people bring. For instance, a question about favorite vacations assumes that everybody has had the means to vacation regularly, and a question about favorite sports teams assumes everybody follows sports. A couple of good lists of potential icebreakers: one from Indiana University and another from University of Michigan.
- Listen openly to everybody’s ideas; stay curious. If an idea at first strikes you as odd or incorrect, remain open to trying to understand it better.
- Look for the strengths others bring. These sometimes lie under the surface, or can take a while to emerge – as with the ability to listen carefully and offer summation, or to bring in alternative perspective.
- Shift away from competition and toward collaboration, for example by sharing your own struggles (to the extent you are comfortable doing so), and offering to support others in achieving their goals (for example, sharing notes or helping a classmate with a point of confusion in the course material).
- Reflect on the assumptions you might be making about others before you get to know them. Who are the people you tend to focus on in conversations? Whose ideas do you tend to pay most attention to?
- In team projects, consider rotating responsibilities, so that one person isn’t always the facilitator and another isn’t always the note-taker, for example.
- Reflect on how tasks are being assigned. It makes sense to play to people’s strengths when you divvy up project tasks. But if one person ends up with tasks that tend to be less valued (e.g., note-taking) while others get tasks that come with more acknowledgement (e.g., giving a presentation), there may be an equity issue. Be sure to consider everybody’s interests and preferences in how work gets divided. Using a formal process — such as allowing everybody to submit their top 2–3 role choices, and ensuring everyone gets one of those — can help avoid a sense of inequity later.
- Acknowledge that there are multiple ways to approach a problem or task. If somebody takes an approach different from yours, be curious, and ask yourself, "What can I learn from this person?" The variety of perspectives and approaches that exist within a group enrich the conversation, benefiting everybody.
- If you witness somebody being treated in an unwelcoming or disrespectful way, to interrupt that action if it seems safe to do so, and/or offer support to the recipient. You may also wish to talk with the instructor and/or teaching assistant about the incident.
- Be accountable for your words and actions. If you inadvertently do or say something that causes hurt or offense, know that it's an opportunity to be human and learn, and acknowledge the impact.
- Suggest developing group groundrules. Setting expectations for group work together helps ensure that everybody’s concerns get addressed upfront. Plan to set aside time in your first session developing ground rules that everyone agrees to, and then type them up and send them to all members.
Below is a sample list of ground rules you can use as a starting point:
- Allow everyone a chance to speak. If you have been speaking more, step back to make room for others.
- Give everyone a chance to take a leadership role.
- If you can’t make a meeting or will be late, inform the group.
- Make a commitment to meet deadlines. If something happens, let others know as early as you can.
- No question is a dumb question.
- Address conflict productively. Some level of disagreement is natural in a group project, because you're working with different individuals who bring their own personalities, values, expectations, perspectives, and so on. And it can even be useful, because it can allow the group to explore diverse ideas and opinions. But a high level of conflict can interfere with the group's productivity, and can leave individuals feeling disconnected or excluded. If there is a conflict:
- Focus on impact, not individuals. For instance, if you’re upset that somebody missed a deadline, explain the impact that this had on you (you had to delay other tasks, etc.), rather than criticizing the person for their tardiness.
- Try to identify the source. Is it about group process? Communication styles? Differing expectations or priorities? Identifying the root cause will help you work toward a solution.
- Return to your ground rules, and ask group members to consider whether they're being followed, or whether they should be updated.
- Try to have an open conversation about the conflict, and create ground rules for this conversation (for example, listening actively, avoiding interruption, focusing on issues and not people, etc.).
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