Group Work: B2+. Patrick McMahonЧитать онлайн книгу.
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How is group work assessed as a process as well as a product?
Glossary
reflective If you are reflective, you are thinking deeply about something.
enable If someone or something enables you to do a particular thing, they give you the opportunity to do it.
University lecturers also ask you to work with others because of the skills and subject knowledge you gain during the group work process. This means that the lecturers are not only interested in the finished assignment that you hand in, they are also interested in what happened when you were working on the assignment; they will give you marks for this process of working as well as marking your final assignment. This is why the process is important, not just the product. If the product is good but only one person worked on the assignment, you will score poorly on the collaborative working part of the assignment.
In long assignments there are usually several parts, for example, a group presentation as well as individual writing. It is common to include a reflective piece of writing in which you show what you have learned from your group work. This enables you to make comments about how you worked as a group and how you solved any problems that came up.
For more information on reflective writing, see Chapter 9.
Remember
You can usually achieve more when working in a group than working individually.
University lecturers will expect you to participate actively in group work.
University lecturers want to see you listening to and learning from other students.
You get marks for being a good group member.
If your final assignment looks good but your group work is poor, you might be disappointed with your mark.
Aims
learn ways of forming a group and getting to know each other
recognize the value of team-building activities
assign roles and responsibilities, establish rules and share contact information
create a shared digital workspace
Quiz
Self-evaluation
Read the statements and circle the answers that are true for you.
| 1 I want to be able to choose my own group members. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 2 I think it is much easier to work with people who have the same nationality as me. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 3 Team-building activities can be useful to build a strong group. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 4 I donât like having a lot of rules; I prefer a more relaxed approach to work. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 5 I think everyone should help each other, so individual responsibilities are not important. | agree | disagree | not sure |
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Forming a group
There are a variety of ways of selecting the members of a group. For example, the lecturer can:
decide on the members of each group; you do not have a choice
allow you to choose your group members with complete freedom
allow students to choose their group members, but give some constraints, for example numbers of males and females or the mix of nationalities
use a random selection process, for example picking out names written on individual pieces of paper.
Glossary
Constraint A constraint is something that limits or controls what you can do
Your lecturer will generally have good reasons for choosing one of these methods. If you understand what these reasons are, you are likely to have a more successful group.
Read the methods of selecting group members below. Make notes about the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
| Method | Advantages | Disadvantages |
| 1 The lecturer decides on the group members with no input from students. | It is a quick way to choose the group. There are no arguments about the group members. | |
| 2 Students freely choose their own group members. | ||
| 3 Students can choose their group members within constraints given by the lecturer. | ||
| 4 Group selection is done through a random process. | You might have all the students with similar skills in the same group. |
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