6.1 Effective practice for collaborative activities
6.1 Effective practice for collaborative activities
While the idea of group work sometimes instils fear in students and educators alike, this need not be the case. There are a number of effective practices that can ensure successful online group work.
Key to successful group work is to ensure:
- the project and deliverables are clearly defined.
- team rules are agreed to and maintained (download a sample team contract).
Planning
- Careful planning and alignment with learning outcomes can ensure successful group work.
Criteria for success
- Provide explicit criteria for success – check that students understand the goals of the project and how you intend them to be achieved.
Teamwork skills
- Allocate time for the development and management of teamwork skills – ask students to create a team contract right from the start, make this one of the project outcomes.
Interdependence
- Create interdependence – make sure the group project goals necessitate the sharing of knowledge, skills, resources and goals.
Recognise individual contributions
Feedback/Errata