Group Projects Online: When, Why, and How

Let's discuss...

WHY...

...do a group project?

WHEN...

...is a group project appropriate? 

HOW...

...should I implement it? 

TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Forming, Norming, Storming, Performing (and Adjourning)

Who am I? 

Ethan Contini-Field, M.Ed. 

  • Course Designer for the DCE Teaching and Learning Team
  • 20+ years work in adult and continuing education
  • To prep, reviewed several learning center summaries
  • Direct work and interviews with DCE instructors<

Who are you?

Group Project Complaints

Common complaints about group projects?

  • Could never find time to meet
  • Time consuming, busy work
  • Didn’t actually collaborate
  • Unbalanced workload - Freeloaders!
  • Unfair grading
  • Conflict without resolution
  • “What’s the point??”

WHY do a Group Project? 

Documented benefits

  • Authentic “real life” practice
  • Complement each other’s strengths
  • Benefit from others’ diverse perspectives and ideas
  • Do something greater, in more depth than when done alone
  • Done well, improves learning (says research)

GOAL: Support these reasons why
               Mitigate the reasons for the complaints

WHEN to do a group project?

When the content is right

  • Content is relevant, and feels relevant
  • Benefits of interdependent collaboration are clear
  • Whole project is worthwhile, but too big to do alone
  • The work resembles collaboration in the field
  • You can provide just enough structure (but not too much!)
  • Groups are not doing identical topics
  • Groups can present and benefit from each other
    ...or even compete! (M. Kumar)

Workshop participants on group competition:

  • If the task puts teams in competition with one another, the pressure to united increases, and they're more likely to put differences aside.

When the logistics are right

  • Content divisible into few distinct tasks (ideal group size is ~4)
  • Equitable workload (within and across groups) 
  • Equitable learning (within and across groups) 
  • Progressing deliverables over time
  • Account for both graduate and undergraduate requirements
    • More work within group? 
    • Separate groups? 
    • Differentiate elsewhere? 
  • Can students use class time for it? 

HOW to do a group project?

With a clear task that addresses why and when.
Be creative!

  • Paper
  • Presentation
  • Poster session
  • Web site
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Visual art
  • Software

Stages of Team Development

(Bruce Tuckman, 1965)

Forming

Gathering; Task defined by leader

Storming

Conflict about goals, process, authority

Norming

Get consensus on goals, process, authority, roles

Performing

Progress toward goals, conflict managed, network of support

Adjourning
 (Mourning)

Resolution, celebration, appreciation, evaluation

FORMING

“Leader” frames the task (at first, the leader is you).

  • Don’t let students self-select. You should assign groups.  
  • Grouping options (requires survey or observation)
    • Availability (time of day, time zone)
    • Interest in a topic or observed interests (K. Round) 
    • Compose teams with a diversity of strengths 
      • e.g. Leader, Communicator, Creative, Worker Bee, At-risk
      • Consider grad vs. undergrad here
      • Be sensitive to difficulty of being “the only one” in a group
    • Random

Workshop participants on group formation:

  • I do a simple survey early to find out preferred times, then use that as the primary input when creating groups.
  • Self-selection often leads to lopsided groups.  I once had a class where the US students grouped, leaving one group that had international students, who were disadvantaged given the tasks.
  • What's worked best for me is trying to create groups that are internally diverse but roughly equal in terms of the resources they bring to the work
  • Had issue with an older man who thought hierarchically and thought that he should run the group, in a group with two women and a young man who were all better students.

NORMING

Make strong recommendations for the first meeting

  • Make the first meeting live, synchronous (not email/chat)
  • Use [instructor’s recommended tech] to collaborate
  • Get to know each other: 
    • Locations, interests, “something not on your résumé”
    • Check assumptions about availability and technology
  • Make a group charter or code of conduct

Group Charter: Possible Components

  • Group roles and division of labor
  • Meeting roles 

    • Facilitation, recording notes, to-do list? Same every time, or rotate?

  • Behavioral norms
    • Punctuality, interruptions & turn taking, honor diversity, critiquing ideas not people
  • How to make and record decisions (majority, consensus, unanimous?) 
  • How and when to communicate between meetings
    • Collaboration tools (e.g. Canvas Groups, Google Docs, chat, email) 
    • Can some members meet and make decisions without others? 
    • Expected response time
  • Flexibility vs. norm-breaking (and when to go to the instructor)

Workshop participants on group charters:

  • I require a team charter - with simple rules and responsibilities they agree to. Makes them interact quickly.
  • I ask teams to discuss the following when they have established their norms: 
    • How will we manage violation of group norms? [It’s almost guaranteed to happen] 
    • Why is it important that we address norm violations openly and directly [it’s where so much of the learning happens] 
    •  What should we do if a team member repeatedly violates the norms?

STORMING

Reduce unnecessary conflict and catch problems early 

  • Be clear about structure, scope, rubrics, grading criteria
  • Require multiple submissions, give timely feedback on each
  • Weekly reflection surveys (or alt. ways to flag problems)
  • If there are designated group leaders, check in with them
  • Criteria for contact instructor with serious problems
    • One instructor allows a group to ‘fire’ a member by unanimous vote.
      Fired member fails the project. (M. Kumar)

PERFORMING

Many possible grading structures

Tell students what the structure is, and your criteria for grading. 

1. Common

2. Many smaller projects

  • Four deliverables required
  • Only one is content-graded
  • That one is presented
  • Each student adds individual reflection

3. Feedback cycles

  • Project submitted in sections
  • Can re-submit earlier sections revised based on feedback
  • Group grade only

4. Large course

  • Presentation self-recorded, students watch only few
  •  ⅓ grade from instructor
  • ⅓ review by other groups
  • ⅓ in-group peer review

5. Individual check-in

  • Follow up graded presentation with one-on-one Q&A with instructor for individual grade 

6. Individual only

  • Each student “owns” one section of the project. Side-steps group complaints
  • Structure & grade for group and/or individual performance

ADJOURNING (MOURNING)

Bring reflection and closure 

  • Celebrate the work done
  • Make space for mutual appreciation
  • Evaluate and give feedback on the assignment itself (not each other or the group’s product)
    • Use the criteria under “WHY” and “WHEN” to evaluate
  • Say goodbye!

References & Further Reading

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