Is group work an effective form of learning in education?
Poll
Is group work an effective form of learning in education? (not the workplace)
When talking about group work i'm talking about the kind of group work that you get at university level and lower whereby you're simply given a task to do and you have to work on it together. So not like the workplace whereby your employer might assign specific tasks for you to do as a group based on your strengths' and weaknesses.
The questions are simple:
Do you think that it's effective or useful?
Do you think that it should be mandatory or assessed on (to the point where it counts towards your final grade)?
What are your experiences on group work?
The questions are simple:
Do you think that it's effective or useful?
Do you think that it should be mandatory or assessed on (to the point where it counts towards your final grade)?
What are your experiences on group work?
I think it should be mandatory. Most people are going to work in a group at one point or the other either in an educational or professional setting. They need to start building their team skills as soon as possible.
From my experience, it has been effective. It's a great way to help shy students break out of their shells. Also, being able to divide huge task into parts makes learning less stressful, and more enjoyable. It's a nice deviation from the usual.
From my experience, it has been effective. It's a great way to help shy students break out of their shells. Also, being able to divide huge task into parts makes learning less stressful, and more enjoyable. It's a nice deviation from the usual.
However, I would throw a fit if it counted towards my final grade. I'm done with that. I hate it. I've noticed more often than not, that when a grade is tied to group work, people are more likely to slack off or push the bulk of the work onto one person.
I wouldn't mind groupwork where we do research or a practical together; then, make individual reports. But actually working together towards a grade? No. I consider it very unfair. I work too hard to have my final grade depend on someone else. I'm sorry if this seems conceited but I was usually grouped with the lazy ones in class. They were happy with a D. I was not so I always ended up doing 200% more work to maintain my As. The teachers knew I would so used me to bump their grades. One even begged me to just do all the work so they wouldn't have to repeat the class. It annoyed me.
I wouldn't mind groupwork where we do research or a practical together; then, make individual reports. But actually working together towards a grade? No. I consider it very unfair. I work too hard to have my final grade depend on someone else. I'm sorry if this seems conceited but I was usually grouped with the lazy ones in class. They were happy with a D. I was not so I always ended up doing 200% more work to maintain my As. The teachers knew I would so used me to bump their grades. One even begged me to just do all the work so they wouldn't have to repeat the class. It annoyed me.
I think you somewhat answered your own thread by pointing out you will likely be expected to do this in employment. Prob best to get all the foot stamping and 'I don't see why I should! stuff out the way earlier
I do think it should be graded, but not as a major part, and it needs to be taken into account that working in a group will always raise people problems and you can only hold 1 student accountable for anothers work up to a point.
I do think it should be graded, but not as a major part, and it needs to be taken into account that working in a group will always raise people problems and you can only hold 1 student accountable for anothers work up to a point.
Can you imagine the exerience of working in a group where every member threw their weight in equally and worked collaboratively and generously towards an end goal? I never had this experience myself but I dare say it is possible.
Group psychology offers some interesting insights.
One is that in each group there is a person who leads on getting the task done and another who takes care of the group's well-being while the task is being done.These are always two different people and they often come into conflict with each other over what the group priorities should be.
I think it's useful to experience group work within the education system so that we can begin to understand where we as an individual fit into a group, to understand why we react the way we do. It's a highly dynamic situation.
But in terms of the question, yes I think it should be built into education but assessment should always be designed to allow some individual moderation of grades. There should also be an objectve way of monitoring the level of engagement so that slackers can't hide.
Group psychology offers some interesting insights.
One is that in each group there is a person who leads on getting the task done and another who takes care of the group's well-being while the task is being done.These are always two different people and they often come into conflict with each other over what the group priorities should be.
I think it's useful to experience group work within the education system so that we can begin to understand where we as an individual fit into a group, to understand why we react the way we do. It's a highly dynamic situation.
But in terms of the question, yes I think it should be built into education but assessment should always be designed to allow some individual moderation of grades. There should also be an objectve way of monitoring the level of engagement so that slackers can't hide.
(edited 1 year ago)
Absolutely no, but I see the value of working in a team at work. It's a different environment though; people are paid to do the work and are more mature than students.
Do you think that it's effective or useful?
I think it is a necessary part of education, especially since it is widely used in corporate settings, but I don't like the way group work is conducted in schools. I don't find it particularly effective or useful, since people keep slacking off and no one puts an equal amount of effort in. This is why I prefer individual work. How much effort a person puts in is more evident then. Think of why exams are individual? It gives a fairer metric to rank people with and everyone's contribution is evident.
Do you think that it should be mandatory or assessed on (to the point where it counts towards your final grade)?
Mandatory? Yes. Assessed on? No. It helps to develop skills you would need when working with others, but I would prefer to be assessed on a system that judges my work as my own. With group work, a lot of time tends to get wasted arguing about each person's roles with respect to the task, and when half the people aren't even interested in making an effort let alone doing a good job of it, it really becomes a burden rather than a learning opportunity.
What are your experiences on group work?
People would slack off and push all their work on me, and everyone received the same grade irrespective of how much effort they put in, which is totally unfair
Thankfully, I was usually able to request to be in a group with my friends, since we're of a similar mindset and all contribute fairly to the given task, so my grades never really suffered for it, but if you go out of your way to avoid a system it isn't very effective then, is it? I don't understand why schools and universities can't assign group work the way workplaces do - with tasks delegated to people on the basis of their strengths.
I think it is a necessary part of education, especially since it is widely used in corporate settings, but I don't like the way group work is conducted in schools. I don't find it particularly effective or useful, since people keep slacking off and no one puts an equal amount of effort in. This is why I prefer individual work. How much effort a person puts in is more evident then. Think of why exams are individual? It gives a fairer metric to rank people with and everyone's contribution is evident.
Do you think that it should be mandatory or assessed on (to the point where it counts towards your final grade)?
Mandatory? Yes. Assessed on? No. It helps to develop skills you would need when working with others, but I would prefer to be assessed on a system that judges my work as my own. With group work, a lot of time tends to get wasted arguing about each person's roles with respect to the task, and when half the people aren't even interested in making an effort let alone doing a good job of it, it really becomes a burden rather than a learning opportunity.
What are your experiences on group work?
People would slack off and push all their work on me, and everyone received the same grade irrespective of how much effort they put in, which is totally unfair
Thankfully, I was usually able to request to be in a group with my friends, since we're of a similar mindset and all contribute fairly to the given task, so my grades never really suffered for it, but if you go out of your way to avoid a system it isn't very effective then, is it? I don't understand why schools and universities can't assign group work the way workplaces do - with tasks delegated to people on the basis of their strengths.Original post by StriderHort
I think you somewhat answered your own thread by pointing out you will likely be expected to do this in employment. Prob best to get all the foot stamping and 'I don't see why I should! stuff out the way earlier
I do think it should be graded, but not as a major part, and it needs to be taken into account that working in a group will always raise people problems and you can only hold 1 student accountable for anothers work up to a point.
I do think it should be graded, but not as a major part, and it needs to be taken into account that working in a group will always raise people problems and you can only hold 1 student accountable for anothers work up to a point.
Yeah but here i'm talking about the kind of group work you do and university level and lower whereby you might be given a task to do but you aren't assigned specific roles/bits to do based on your strengths and weakness by your teacher. I'm talking about the case where it's simply "get into groups of 2-10 people and do a presentation on topic X" kind of thing (work out for yourselves who's doing what; you aren't graded individually, simply as a whole regardless of how much effort/work you individually might have done etc).
Original post by cheadle
Can you imagine the exerience of working in a group where every member threw their weight in equally and worked collaboratively and generously towards an end goal? I never had this experience myself but I dare say it is possible.
Group psychology offers some interesting insights.
One is that in each group there is a person who leads on getting the task done and another who takes care of the group's well-being while the task is being done.These are always two different people and they often come into conflict with each other over what the group priorities should be.
I think it's useful to experience group work within the education system so that we can begin to understand where we as an individual fit into a group, to understand why we react the way we do. It's a highly dynamic situation.
But in terms of the question, yes I think it should be built into education but assessment should always be designed to allow some individual moderation of grades. There should also be an objectve way of monitoring the level of engagement so that slackers can't hide.
Group psychology offers some interesting insights.
One is that in each group there is a person who leads on getting the task done and another who takes care of the group's well-being while the task is being done.These are always two different people and they often come into conflict with each other over what the group priorities should be.
I think it's useful to experience group work within the education system so that we can begin to understand where we as an individual fit into a group, to understand why we react the way we do. It's a highly dynamic situation.
But in terms of the question, yes I think it should be built into education but assessment should always be designed to allow some individual moderation of grades. There should also be an objectve way of monitoring the level of engagement so that slackers can't hide.
Yeah, i've heard of students on here complain about group work because they had to all of the work and the other students weren't pulling their weight.
Original post by Talkative Toad
Yeah but here i'm talking about the kind of group work you do and university level and lower whereby you might be given a task to do but you aren't assigned specific roles/bits to do based on your strengths and weakness by your teacher. I'm talking about the case where it's simply "get into groups of 2-10 people and do a presentation on topic X" kind of thing (work out for yourselves who's doing what; you aren't graded individually, simply as a whole regardless of how much effort/work you individually might have done etc).
Yea we're talking about the same kind of group work. It's all too easy to claim 'I work well In a team'.... but do you? etc. As said I think grading should take into account group & individual efforts and to an extent take working relationships into account.
But in much the same way as the present wave of 'I don't see why I should attend when things are digital' students, I can't help but feel a slight wave of polite contempt for similar protests against group work.
Original post by StriderHort
Yea we're talking about the same kind of group work. It's all too easy to claim 'I work well In a team'.... but do you? etc. As said I think grading should take into account group & individual efforts and to an extent take working relationships into account.
But in much the same way as the present wave of 'I don't see why I should attend when things are digital' students, I can't help but feel a slight wave of polite contempt for similar protests against group work.
But in much the same way as the present wave of 'I don't see why I should attend when things are digital' students, I can't help but feel a slight wave of polite contempt for similar protests against group work.
I personally don't like group work (working with others in general) but fair enough.
It’s pretty simple for grading to take into account individual contributions. It just means that part of the submission of work includes a score for how much each group member contributed to the group.
If everybody involved knows that’s part of the task then it adds an incentive to contribute.
I’m bewildered at people in this thread thinking that employers will delegate tasks in a project based on skillsets. That’s really not how things work in employment - you’re expected to work as an adult with other adults to get things done. If you only do the work that you’re told explicitly to do then you’ll have a very dull and unvaried career!
If everybody involved knows that’s part of the task then it adds an incentive to contribute.
I’m bewildered at people in this thread thinking that employers will delegate tasks in a project based on skillsets. That’s really not how things work in employment - you’re expected to work as an adult with other adults to get things done. If you only do the work that you’re told explicitly to do then you’ll have a very dull and unvaried career!
Original post by Talkative Toad
I personally don't like group work (working with others in general) but fair enough.
Most people don't, but education isn't primarily about what you like, it's expected to challenge. The world is full of people and unless you are a significant minority you will need to work with them to get through life.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by StriderHort
Most people don't, but education isn't primarily about what you like, it's expected to challenge. The world is full of people and unless you are a significant minority you will need to work with them to get through life.
Ah yeah I'm not (wasn't) a fan of socialising with others in general, that's why I don't like group work (got a valid reason for that but yeah).
Still think that's it's necessary to be able to work in a group with others though.
The university I go to have taken a different approach to university work. My degree at the London Interdisciplinary School is not exam based; instead we have a number of different assessments in each term, normally about two-three for each module (we take about three modules in both the first and second term). For the first two terms of each year these assignments are a mix of individual or group-based tasks - at my uni this is seen as incredible valuable, and whilst challenging it builds skills necessary for our course, and the world of work.
The degree:
There is a lot of emphasis on the value of group-work at my uni is because it is an interdisciplinary degree; collaboration, effective communication, and the integration of different perspectives is at the heart of interdisciplinary. As we have likely all taken different subject (e.g. Data Studies) or method (e.g. Materials and Making) modules in each term, this group-work is a great opportunity to put these skills into practice or find the links between seemingly dissimilar though actually relevant, disciplinary knowledge and the problem at hand.
Our course is focussed around global problem-solving. Therefore, we are learning just how vital interdisciplinarity is for effective change, as well as how to achieve this in our projects both now and later in life - problem-solving is characteristic of workplaces regardless of the industry and learning these skills at university are advantageous even with a change in career paths.
The world of work:
Group work can be expected in most industries, but often students don't experience this at university or before joining the work-force, which makes for a difficult transition to this later on. My course recognises this and prioritises making sure we can practice this in preparation for post-uni life. I have certainly noticed personal improvement in being involved, contributing, and playing a decisive role, which has helped in my studies, internship, and personal life.
That being said, group-work is not easy. Over the past two years, I have been in a number of different groups; in some there have been more challenges than others, though this trend also aligns with time and it seems that as a cohort we are improving our teamwork abilities as we practice them. It is up to us as a group to allocate roles based on skills or interests, to manage our time, and make decisions regardless of disagreement, and in my varying experiences of group work, there are some things I have learnt that seem to resonate with others on my course:
-People work differently - some like to be prepared, others thrive with leaving tasks until later
-People have other commitments and these won't always known in advance
-Some like to try new things and others like to contribute through their current strengths
We have learnt that rather than challenging the difficulties and disagreements that these differences offer, the communication around, and adaptation towards obstacles that arrive is what is most important. It has become clear just how important this style of work, and practice at it, is; and whilst this experience has been trying, I have certainly built on my own abilities at group-work.
Hope this helps
The degree:
There is a lot of emphasis on the value of group-work at my uni is because it is an interdisciplinary degree; collaboration, effective communication, and the integration of different perspectives is at the heart of interdisciplinary. As we have likely all taken different subject (e.g. Data Studies) or method (e.g. Materials and Making) modules in each term, this group-work is a great opportunity to put these skills into practice or find the links between seemingly dissimilar though actually relevant, disciplinary knowledge and the problem at hand.
Our course is focussed around global problem-solving. Therefore, we are learning just how vital interdisciplinarity is for effective change, as well as how to achieve this in our projects both now and later in life - problem-solving is characteristic of workplaces regardless of the industry and learning these skills at university are advantageous even with a change in career paths.
The world of work:
Group work can be expected in most industries, but often students don't experience this at university or before joining the work-force, which makes for a difficult transition to this later on. My course recognises this and prioritises making sure we can practice this in preparation for post-uni life. I have certainly noticed personal improvement in being involved, contributing, and playing a decisive role, which has helped in my studies, internship, and personal life.
That being said, group-work is not easy. Over the past two years, I have been in a number of different groups; in some there have been more challenges than others, though this trend also aligns with time and it seems that as a cohort we are improving our teamwork abilities as we practice them. It is up to us as a group to allocate roles based on skills or interests, to manage our time, and make decisions regardless of disagreement, and in my varying experiences of group work, there are some things I have learnt that seem to resonate with others on my course:
-People work differently - some like to be prepared, others thrive with leaving tasks until later
-People have other commitments and these won't always known in advance
-Some like to try new things and others like to contribute through their current strengths
We have learnt that rather than challenging the difficulties and disagreements that these differences offer, the communication around, and adaptation towards obstacles that arrive is what is most important. It has become clear just how important this style of work, and practice at it, is; and whilst this experience has been trying, I have certainly built on my own abilities at group-work.
Hope this helps
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Hamza's experience studying Business and Management at Bradford
- Could someone please mark my 12 marker? (AQA Soci)
- GCSE Sociology AQA
- Life skills you'll learn at university
- can someone pls mark this eng lang 2 question 5 for me?
- a level preparation
- Ask a BCU Education Studies student!
- How to make friends at uni | student blog
- Why Not to Study in the Netherlands
- 21 century
- theoretical perspectives on reflection in professional development
- Studying mechanical engineering as an economic student
- Embracing the Benefits of Block Teaching
- I'm a year 13 student at LSA (London Screen Academy) AMA
- Rough schools and the attainment gap
- Theoretical perspectives on reflection to professional development
- Want to Stay Motivated and Develop Independent Study Skills?
- The Education system more like the biggest scam
- What is missing from the school curriculum?
- HSC LEVLE 3 UNIT 5 LEARNING AIM B/C D2 help
Latest
Trending
Last reply 3 days ago
Is it true that British unis are prejudiced towards degrees from Scottish unis?Last reply 3 days ago
If the Russell Group was now a fair representation of what it still claims to beLast reply 1 month ago
Is University of Birmingham prestigious and respected well enough in UK ?Trending
Last reply 3 days ago
Is it true that British unis are prejudiced towards degrees from Scottish unis?Last reply 3 days ago
If the Russell Group was now a fair representation of what it still claims to beLast reply 1 month ago
Is University of Birmingham prestigious and respected well enough in UK ?
