Forming Groups

Why is group formation so important?

The composition of project groups can affect project outcomes. A successful group will be cohesive and produce results; an unsuccessful one may struggle to accomplish the most basic tasks. Aim to create diverse groups with respect to student strengths and background (Oakley, 2004). Diversity can refer to culture, race, and gender; it also can refer to disciplinary backgrounds, individual academic strengths, previous exposure to the topic, and skills.

How can you form effective groups?

Diversity of membership - cognitive and cultural - is a key characteristic of effective groups. Diverse groups have been shown to outperform groups of like-minded and/or similarly skilled individuals (Hong, 2004, Smith 2014). In this context, diversity can refer to such things as students’ knowledge, backgrounds, identities, and skills. Having diverse groups also levels the playing field so that one group does not have more abilities and experience than the others.

The chart below provides you with the advantages and disadvantages of different methods for forming groups. These may help you in your decision as to how to form effective groups for your group projects. Whatever you decide to do, consider being transparent and share with students why you made the choice you did.

Should the group members take on assigned roles?

While many groups do well without assigned roles, groups with assigned roles interacted more frequently than groups without roles (Brewer, 2006). Assigning roles, e.g. facilitator, time keeper, recorder, or participation monitor, to group members is a good way to keep individual students accountable for the group’s progress. Assigned group roles are also a way to moderate group member behavior. For instance, a student who tends to dominate the conversation could be assigned a role as a recorder allowing quieter students more chances for participation. If you do choose to assign roles, keep in mind that certain roles may create barriers for students with disabilities.  For example, a student with dyslexia may find the role of recorder to be an obstacle to group participation.

How big should the group be?

There is no set answer from the literature to determine the optimal group size. Groups of two to four students are recommended in order to obtain meaningful interaction among members (Johnson, 2007). Team Based Learning (TBL) principles recommend that physical groups have five to seven students; fully online students have four to five; and hybrid classes have groups of four to six (Intedashboard, n.d.).  Larger groups of up to nine students, however, can be productive.  On the flip side, the smaller a group is, the less likely the group will have students with strengths in all areas needed for the project. Most instructors who work with groups try to avoid groups bigger than nine. 

Should I put minoritized students together in groups?  

Minoritized students may feel marginalized if they are isolated on a team.  Students may be minoritized based on their race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, language, and/or ability. In group projects, this marginalization can take place in the form of biases as to who is more suited for a particular task, lack of peer validation, or because a project does not seem relevant does not seem culturally relevant (Meadows, et al, 2015).

It is recommended to avoid isolating at-risk students (students who may be at a greater risk of dropping out or those who may be marginalized) as some studies have shown that these students may take on more passive roles within the group (Oakley, 2004). Pairing at-risk students together on a group with majority students has been shown to lessen some of the negative effects (Dasgupta, 2015). This seems to be most important in their first one to two years of a program and not so important after that (Oakley, 2004; Dasgupta, 2015).

References

Brewer, S. & Klein, J. D. Type of positive interdependence and affiliative motive in an asynchronous, collaborative, learning environment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 54(4), 331-354 (2006).

Dasgupta, N, Scircle, M. M. & Hunsinger, M. Female peers in small work groups enhance women’s motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 112(16), 4988-4993 (2015).

Hong, L. & Page, S.E. Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 101(46), 16385-16389 (2004).

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T & Smith, K. The state of cooperative learning in postsecondary and professional settings. Educational Psychology Review, 19, 15 – 29 (2007).

Meadows, L. A., Sekaquaptewa, D., Paretti, M. C., Pawley, A. L., Jordan, S. S., Chachra, D., & Minerick, A. (2015, June). Interactive panel: Improving the experiences of marginalized students on engineering design teams. In 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition (pp. 26-1007).

Oakely, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R. & Elihajj, I. Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(1), 9 - 34 (2004).

Pentland, A. The new science of building great teams. Harvard Business Review, April, 61 – 70 (2012).

Potosky, D. & Duck, J. Forming teams for classwork projects. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 34, 144 – 148 (2007).

Saleh, M., Lazonder, A. W. & De Jong, T. Effects of within-class ability grouping on social interaction, achievement, and motivation, Instructional Science, 33, 105 – 119 (2005).

Smith, K. & Imbrie, P. K. . Teamwork and Project Management. McGraw-Hill, World Fairfield, PA (2004).

https://www.blog.intedashboard.com/blogs/tbl-learning/team-formation