Making your group work

More on working in a group

Group Ground Rules
a useful webpage that outlines how to set some ground rules with your team members to make sure you are not the only one who does the work.

Common Team Mistakes
A must read page on how to avoid some mistakes often seen in student work groups

Group Roles
Context Institute (1985) Roles in Groups: the many forms of leadership and participation Strategies for Cultural Change (9) Spring p 24 Accessed November 15, 2006, Online:
http://www.context.org
/ICLIB/IC09/FCL.htm
A seminal academic article on group roles

Before the group begins...

Expect to learn, to enjoy, and to discover

Expect to work with people you don't know

A good beginning...

Make a good first impression.

Build the team.

Do something that requires self-disclosure.
Take interpersonal risks to build trust.
Establish team goals as appropriate.

Start thinking about group processing.

During group work…

Work at increasing self-disclosure.

Work at giving good feedback.

Get silent members involved.

Confront problems.

Apply lessons from class work.
Work on issues in the group even if they appear at first to be just between two members.
Don't assume you can't work with someone just because you don't like or respect them.
If the group can't solve a problem, consult the instructor as a group.

Regularly review your data.

Vary the leadership style as needed.

Wrapping up…

Summarize and review your learning from group experiences.

Analyse the data to discover why the group was more effective or less so.
Provide final feedback to members on their contribution.

Celebrate the group's accomplishments.

Adapted from: Bowen, D. D., and Jackson, C. N. (1985-6). "Curing those 'ol 'Omigod-Not-Another-Group-Class' blues". Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, 10(4), 21-23. in National Institution for Science Education (1997) Doing CL NIISI Accessed November 15, 2006, Online: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/Cl1/CL/doingcl/hints.htm

interaction design

Tools: Startup