I am assisting on a research probing how undergraduate students form 'out of class study groups', the demographics and composition of such study groups. Could someone point me to any prior research on understanding the HOW of this group formation process and the factors that led a certain set of students choosing one another to form the group. Is it similar grades? Do the study group members belong to the same social group? Most of the papers I read through went about studying the usefulness / impact of study groups on students' learning and grades, but I am interested in the knowing the formation process and composition of the group.
Hi,
Hope the attached helps.
Regards
http://www.niagara.edu/assets/listpage/Study-Groups-student-created.pdf
https://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/Newsletter/cooperative.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046890/
http://www.lifescied.org/content/10/1/74.full.pdf+html
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I don't know of any particular studies, but having been a participant of some of these kings of groups that use online fora for forming and meetings, I can perhaps provide some insights.
The groups that I have become a part of were generally either one of two kinds. First, there were cohort groups where members of a cohort pursuing a particular degree at an institution independently formed social media groups to support one another through our classes. This kind of group is helpful in a prescribed setting were everyone in a cohort is taking the same classes at the same time. I participated in two of these, one from Full Sail University students in the MFA in Media Design program. The other was from Concordia University in the Master of Education program. Both were valuable, and I sometimes still see people checking in to keep in touch years after the completions of the programs.
The second kinds of outside study social media group was set up by a professor for all the students--current and former--to help and support one another and to enhance and enrich the learning in such an environment. Sometimes these kinds of groups have been closed to only class members. Other times, they were open to a wider audience that shared a common interest and could contribute positively to the group experience.
I hope this was at least marginally helpful.