by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU
Group assignments offer one way for students to engage with course content and demonstrate their learning. Collaboration offers an opportunity to students to refine their ideas and receive constructive feedback on their work prior to submitting it to you. However, without proper planning, group assignments can go poorly! Here’s some advice for making group assignments meaningful for your students.
Decide how groups will be formed.
Will your students choose their own groups? Will you assign them to groups? Will you offer students an opportunity to request to be with certain people, or to avoid working with certain people? Make this decision early and communicate it clearly to students! The earlier your students know who they’ll be working with, the sooner they can get started.
Establish expectations for meeting
How will your students connect with each other to work on the assignment? Do you expect them to meet synchronously? Have a shared Google document? Will you hold them accountable for group meetings? Make sure students know what your expectations are.
Have students complete a group agreement early in the quarter
Some students are self-starters and will reach out to their group mates as soon as they know who they’re working with. Other students need a little nudge. Requiring students to submit a group agreement early in the quarter will help them get started. What is a group agreement? Check out this article: Making Group Contracts from University of Waterloo.
Establish a timeline
Let’s face it – a lot of people procrastinate. Providing a timeline for students will give them benchmarks for completing the assignment in a timely fashion over a sustained period of time, rather than rushing to complete it all at once right before the due date.
Consider breaking the assignment into chunks.
Is it possible to have multiple parts to this assignment, some submitted earlier than others? Breaking the assignment into chunks encourages students to begin working on the assignment earlier. It also provides an opportunity for you to provide feedback on their work. Further, having students submit part of the assignment earlier than others gives you insight into the group dynamics – and the possibility to intervene with some groups, if necessary.
Require a check-in
At some point in the process, require groups to check-in with you. They can submit a rough draft of their work or set up a synchronous meeting. This does not have to be high stakes! Let students know that this check-in is designed to answer any questions they have and for you to offer support as they work on completing the assignment.
Clearly communicate how the assignment will be graded.
Will students receive a group grade on this assignment? Individual grades? A combination? What will you do if one group member doesn’t contribute? If one group member contributes more than the others? Make sure students know what to expect.
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