Session+Two

=​​** __SESSION TWO: REFLECTION ON GROUP ASSIGNMENTS__ ** =

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Think back to an experience you had working with groups (either online or face-to-face). What was one challenge you had with this experience? Please add your challenge to the table and offer strategies to address the challenges posted by others.=====

//R. Gregory// || As suggested in one of the readings, have students evaluate each other on their participation. Use their "grades" along with your observations according to your grading rubric. C. Gilreath Have students turn in a log of their own contributions to the group. || Determining a good way to group students in classes with high drop-out rates. (This would be quite easy to do in courses with low attrition rates.) //R. Gregory// || A project should definitely not be something that you do at the beginning of a class. You need to get to know the students. Also, I think you need to set guidelines as to when certain aspects of the project are due and not wait for them to just submit a finished project. You should setup check points along the way.~Becky Burt Make groups large enough that when a student drops out there will still be a group left. Getting to know the students before making assignments is certainly a must! LGrafton || //W. Scott//
 * **Face-to-Face Challenge** || **Strategies** || **Online Challenge** || **Strategies** ||
 * //Use the rows in this column to describe face-to-face group work challenges you have faced.// || //Use the rows in this column to suggest strategies for the posted face-to-face group work challenges.// || //Use the rows in this column to describe online group work challenges you have faced.// || //Use the rows in this column to suggest strategies for the posted online group work challenges.// ||
 * Tracking student work effectively and grading participation fairly.
 * Encouraging students to equally participate.

Equal participation and in a timely manner. G.P. || Be an active observer of all students during group time. Make note of students who are not contributing. //W. Scott// Assigning roles for each in group really does help with making sure that each student participates. Also checking in with group regularly. Teresa Jones || My main challenge is just not knowing how to assign students to groups. Are they assigned randomly? by gender? by content area? by school? //W. Scott// || Advanced training on group assignment and assessment would be a must. //W. Scott// Different groups would require different grouping--by grade level for teachers, by interests, by geographical location, by subject area, etc. Almost all grouping could be done randomly, unless the topics were subject-specific. I don't think we'd know our participants well-enough to determine with whom they would work best in an online environment. LGrafton ||
 * Getting students to participte in a timely manner.Spooner

Creating an environment that encourages all participants to share equally and have a positive attitude. A. Parrish || Give benchmarks that students must complete by certain times. Spooner

Circulate and/or check in with teams often. Set time limits. Have a rubric available before groups work begins. A. Parrish

I like the idea of benchmarks. What about a specific rubric on which students grades are based? S.McCullough || How do you group students when some participate and others will not and then eventually drop. Spooner

Determining early in the course who is likely to drop out. A. Parrish || Possibly assign group project during the 2nd half of the course when most have dropped and you have a better idea of who will be an activite participant. Spooner

Wait a few weeks before assigning a group project. By this time, you should know who is active and who is likely to drop. A. Parrish || S. McCullough (OOPS) || Possibly establishing several deadlines during each segment of the work would be helpful. bp I agree, because
 * The biggest problem for me is to be sure that everyone is participating. I have found that letting the students evaluate each other in addition to my evaluation is sometimes helpful.~Becky Burt || The teacher must be present. Assigning a group project is not an invitation to relax during that class period. Students will need guidance as they work within the groups. I also feel that if the teacher is present each member will participate more actively.~Becky Burt || The biggest challenge I have faced in online groups is the timeliness of completing tasks. Some in the group posted early and had to wait until the end of the week for the other group members to "catch up". Often that was at the last possible second. That can be very trying.

Establish timelines but still there are sometimes emergencies we must consider. G. P. I may be too strict, but I let students know at the beginning that if they don't do group work by the time required that their work will not be counted. In the "real world" group work has deadlines. ||
 * Students who are reluctant to speak up or to voice their viewpoints. Susan McIlwain || I think explaining to the groups that everyone's voice is equally important is key. Also, they should understand that their contributions will be evaluated, so they should strive to do their best work. Susan McIlwain

Give the students precise directions and list expectations. Sometimes when a student is unsure, he is reluctant about giving his viewpoint. Teresa Jones || Online groups can experience "lags," I have found. Students may not complete their assignments, or they may assume others will carry the weight of the projects. As a result, students can become frustrated at the slow progress of the group. Susan McIlwain || Students should know that group work in class can be a study in "real world" experiences. On the job, they may have to face challenges in working with groups, and problems in class can be similar to those on the job. They should understand that problems in teams can mean loss of a job or of income. I feel that group work can serve to illustrate the need for students to take responsiblity for their actions and realize the consequences of not doing their part. S. McIlwain || Patterson || Give the students a protocal to follow in groupwork, establish clear roles including a time keeper. Belinda || What recourse is available to you if learners are not participating in a fair manner? 1. Some learners may have limited access especially if working from home. 2.You can't always rely on learners dropping out at the beginning of a course. Patterson
 * Encouraging students to share responsibility for success and using group time wisely.

In the past when using groups I gave them the scenario, etc., and left it to the group to take the leadership role. I am finding that I need to appoint leaders in the group. I am not helping with the work just making sure that the group has someone to report their findings and also someone to answer questions.~Becky Burt || I agree with Susan in that the teacher needs to stress the importance of why the class is even doing a group project. Relate it to the real world!~Becky Burt

Becky, I agree with you that it may be helpful to appoint a leader in the group. But in addition, I would also give roles such as task/project manager, secretary, reporter, timekeeper, and encourager. Lashanda Colbert || My greatest challenge as a former high school teacher was ensuring all students were on task. Lashanda Colbert || Teach them HOW to work in groups from day 1 of your f2f course. If students aren't taught to work in groups, we can't expect them to know how. - McCammon
 * Convincing students that it is not a "free" day and that what we are doing has a purpose and is an important task in learning the material. Group work can be chaos, but it can be controlled, constructive chaos. McCammon

Making sure all students are engaged; the teacher is visible in all groups, asking questions and giving feedback. Lashanda Colbert || One of the biggest challenges in ONLINE groups is overcoming my own reluctance to try them. My own fear has caused me not to even try them. - McCammon

My greatest online challenge is working with students who always seem to have an excuse for not completing assignments in a timely manner - usually very valid reasons and excuses. L Colbert || The main way to overcome this is exactly what I'm doing. Get help! I believe that education can help you overcome ALL fear and ignorance. With practice and training, I think I'll be able to overcome my own reluctance to try online groups. - McCammon

|| Shannon Doughty || Peer and Self Evaluation works well and holds each student accountable. This is also when teacher presence is VERY important. Making sure that students know you are making sure they get the job done keeps them motivated. Shannon Doughty || Making sure students realize that online learning is NOT easier than the face to face classroom. That making time for the course is very important. Students will come up with all sorts of excuses in an email, and I know that most of the time they are valid, however some students take advantage of the non face to face contact to make excuses for late assignments or for not turning them in at all. Shannon Doughty || As our readings stated, setting the goal and time frame is very important. Making the project worth the students time is important as well. We all know that if an assignment is posted we can't relate to,l it is very difficult to motivate ourselves to getting it done. Teachers being present and involved is important as well...setting the time frame and having them turn in assignments as you go along works well too. Shannon Doughty || Heather Ramage
 * Making sure that students did their own work and contributed to the group in a timely manner. Grading fairly and keeping track of what each student completed. I always wanted to be fair to those that worked hard and not reward those that did nothing at all..
 * making sure students use time wisely

Differentiating instruction in any group work is a challenge. Jane Pickett || Before students begin the project, they will set time deadlines for each step. The teacher will use these deadlines to encourage students to utilize time wisely.

I like to create menus so that different groups of students can be working on projects that are based on their needs and desires as learners. Jane Pickett || I have never used groups in my online classes before, but I imagine that the difficulties would include making fair judgment calls about grouping, keeping tabs on individual students to make sure they are pulling their weight

I am facing a personal challenge right now, using this WIKI, as I don't know how to get another row to appear. Without someone here to show me, I feel like I am going to delete the whole table if I play with it too much. This is the sort of thing that will frustrate my students in an online environment. No one likes to feel incompetent, especially teachers. Jane Pickett || I would outline specifics for each role in the group so that individual requirements are set. That way, there is equality of the workload within the groups.

It's always the little things that throw a student. I think the video tutorials are great for getting at most of the details in making expectations known. Of course, I must have missed the part where you add a row to the table. Jane Pickett || TWhittle || Assigning participants partners that were not necessarily their buddies for accountability cause them to keep up and have their assignment complete so they could move forward together. Reminding participants of the grading process always helped also. TWhittle || I've never used online groups in my online courses. One of the great difficulties I foresee is placement in the groups because the facilitator does not know each participant and once placed in the group, make sure the grading is fair. One thing I have experienced many times is those who do not complete the course. I would want to make sure being in a group would not cause other participants grade to be affected. TWhittle
 * When meeting f2f student were late here and there which cause them to have to play catch up. Just as with students in the classroom, the adult students had to be monitored to make sure they were doing their own work, contributing and using their time wisely especially with assignments that were taken out of the classroom that was necessary to be complete to move on in the next session.

Online, students who are late getting into the sessions would be a similar problem, especially if group work was assigned. LGrafton || Being active in the course and available to student should keep the facilitator aware of those who are not posting or have not been posting. Having a group leader who is on top of everything encourage group members should keep them from dropping the course. If all fail the leader or facilitator can reassign the person who drops responsibility.

Assigning groups early-on and outlining the group projects before the groupwork was to begin might be a solution. I 've used groups in a limited way with online high school students. It wasn't particularly effective, and I believe this was because I didn't fully prepare before I assigned groups and the work to be done. I will do a better job next time because I have learned new strategies. LGrafton ||