Designing and planning for collaborative group work
In Strategies for Energizing Large Classes: From Small Groups to Learning Communities, more than 100 faculty using small group activities or working to create student communities in large classes were interviewed on their rationale for using collaborative work in the classroom (MacGregor, Cooper, Smith, Robinson, 2000). Their reasons included:
Research shows that the manner in which an instructor implements and facilitates a group project has a significant impact on the success of the group project. The list of suggestions below provides methods of good practice for instructors planning to experiment with collaborative group projects. The results of the award program, in conjunction with the literature on group work, provide evidence of how task design, group process facilitation, and technology choice influence the success of the group project.
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MacGregor, J., Cooper, J., Smith, K., and Robinson, P. (eds.) (2000). Strategies for energizing large classes: From small groups to learning communities. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 81. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.