Building Community via Group Work

Collaborative assignments, projects and presentations are high-impact learning experiences that, when structured thoughtfully, help to foster community and encourage a shared responsibility for academic achievement among students. Well-designed group activities challenge students to take a team approach to problem-solving, while maintaining individual accountability. Furthermore, these collaborative learning experiences engage students with points-of-view different from their own, stimulate critical thinking, and help students develop communication skills, among other benefits.

Collaboration during Disruptions

Under conditions of extreme stress or uncertainty (such as during a transition to online instruction), loss of power or other utilities, and other fallout from a natural disaster, it may be helpful to consider postponing or narrowing the focus of group projects. In online modalities, collaborative learning can be facilitated asynchronously using online discussion forums in Moodle or synchronously using video conferencing tools like Zoom for breakout sessions. In addition, web-based collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams give you the flexibility to use a combination of both.

  • Consider additional guidelines or support to make group work more effective. The more structure and guidance we give students about how to make group work effective, the more likely it is that they will have a good experience- even more so during a disruption to standard operating procedure. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning’s (CATL) pedagogical approach to online collaborative learning experiences examines techniques to help you effectively adapt existing group assignments in your course for remote learning. You might also check out the Inside Higher Education article, 8 Ways to Improve Group Work Online.
  • Incorporate peer review. Peer review promotes student engagement, encourages self-reflection and helps students develop professional skills. Whether applied to group projects, where students may be asked to evaluate each member of their team, or individual assignments, the peer review process can help students strengthen oral and written communication skills and learn how to offer and receive constructive feedback. It is important to explain the rationale and process for peer review in your course, so that students have a clear understanding of your expectations and the skills they can develop by fully engaging in the process. It may be beneficial to review written feedback and listen to group feedback discussions to ensure students offer constructive assessments and provide additional guidance when necessary.
  • Proactively address implicit bias. As described on the parent page, stress and tiredness resulting from the conditions of a disruption leave us more reliant on cognitive shortcuts that reveal our implicit biases. Refer back to earlier conversations with your students about implicit biases and how they show up in the classroom, or engage students in discussion about this phenomena early during the disruption, before they negatively impact learning and engagement in your course. Finally, collect information from students regularly about group interactions, and directly address unwelcoming and exclusive behaviors by reminding individuals of the course community agreements and drawing their attention to the ways that their current behavior is misaligned with them.

Additional Resources