I think most times we take it for granted that our students (both undergraduate and graduate levels) have acquired group skills along their educational journey in assigning group work. But, surprisingly, many students experience challenges in completing group projects, which signal a need for developing team-work skills before group work commences. Can you recommend or suggest some workable exercises for developing team work skills among students?
Many thanks,
Debra
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
Definition
Teamwork skills include the mix of interactive, interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills needed by a group of people working on a common task, in complementary roles, towards a common goal whose outcomes are greater than those possible by any one person working independently.
For academic excellence
“According to social-motivation theories of team learning, the experience of being part of a team is motivating to individual team members. Greater individual motivation results from working with other team members toward a team goal or goals. The greater motivation in turn leads to a greater value being placed on academic achievement by the individual, which then results in greater academic performance. Group goals, team member commitment to the goals, and individual accountability are needed qualities of a team project according to social-motivation theory.”
please, see the attached articles for further information:
Within a secondary school, a physics teacher placed his students around two tables (8 around each one) and ask them to plan their workshop activities according to the lesson's objective. One student among each group is assigned to draw on paper a line joining the position of every student speaking around a circle (the table) and the next speaking student. At the end of the allocated time, the density of drawn lines is one of the analyzed features of that discussion.
Dear Debra
As regards Licenses in Agronomic Sciences, a group of students consisted from 3 to 4 people are sent to internship for a month in an agricultural farm. They have to submit a collective report which they have to present in front of the person in charge of the license. During this internship every student has to make a rotation of week on the place of internship:
- One week will be dedicated to the vegetable production;
- A week dedicated to the animal production;
- Usual week what in attraction to the mechanization and to the irrigation;
- A week dedicated to the management of the exploitation.
The students have to arouse a debate between them on their internship and agree on their own experiences to present a collective report which they have to present in front of the person in charge
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
Definition
Teamwork skills include the mix of interactive, interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills needed by a group of people working on a common task, in complementary roles, towards a common goal whose outcomes are greater than those possible by any one person working independently.
For academic excellence
“According to social-motivation theories of team learning, the experience of being part of a team is motivating to individual team members. Greater individual motivation results from working with other team members toward a team goal or goals. The greater motivation in turn leads to a greater value being placed on academic achievement by the individual, which then results in greater academic performance. Group goals, team member commitment to the goals, and individual accountability are needed qualities of a team project according to social-motivation theory.”
please, see the attached articles for further information:
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
Definition and Example of Teamwork
People in the workplace perform teamwork when workers combine their individual skills in pursuit of a goal. The goal is generally a product of the company's mission. During the late 1990s, the Ford Motor Company built the Ford Taurus in its Atlanta, Georgia, assembly plant. It built the car on an assembly line using hundreds of workers. Each employee was referred to as a 'team member' because it was impossible for any one person to build the Taurus. It took a team of professionals, each with his or her own talents, to help the company achieve its goal of building a quality automobile that sold for a profit.
What Is a Team?
A widely understood and interesting concept in teamwork is:
T - Together
E - Everyone
A - Achieves
M - More.
The concept of 'Together Everyone Achieves More' itself conveys the importance of teamwork at the workplace. Company leaders have recognized the benefit that comes from having employees work in formal teams.
please, see the following articles:
http://ideaedu.org/research-and-papers/pod-idea-notes-on-learning/idea-objective-no-5/
https://teaching.berkeley.edu/blog/building-teamwork-process-skills-students
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/design.html
Hi Debra,
Thanks for your important and interesting question. I appreciated the insightful comments and suggestions of Riadh, Fadel, Hazim, and Chun.
From my personal and professional experiences, to be proficient in teamwork is an intentional process and requires conceptual/theoretical/philosophical knowledge and practical skills from experience. That means:
1. Teach students work group dynamics and skills and have their preliminary buy-in,
2. Then let them acquire the skills in experiential learning (e.g., their involvement in a work group being observed by the instructor and themselves and followed by some small group projects, etc.).
Among the many excellent resources on group dynamics and skills, I'd recommend these for the instructor and the students to explore:
- Reaching Out: Interpersonal Effectiveness and Self-Actualization (11th Edition) with a lot of enlightening exercises by David H. Johnson
Warm regards,
Stephen
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/improving-group-dynamics.htm
http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/workplaces-team-work.cfm
http://managementhelp.org/groups/dynamics-theories.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Out-Interpersonal-Effectiveness-Self-Actualization/dp/0132851016
To develop students' skills, they need to be trained in the following:
1. Learn the basic scientific writing grammar (linguistic structure, and punctuation, and elements of the subject.)
2. Planning and Control.
3. stereotyped and creative thinking.
4. Methods of research and writing the research proposals.
5. Statistical Analysis
6. teams and teamwork.
7. assessment and management of risk.
8. Implement small Projects
9. Communication Skills
10. Negotiation Skills
11. Analytical thinking
12. problem-solving and decision-making
13. Fundamentals of Managerial Economics
14. Economic feasibility studies
Think an example to develop team work skills among higher education students is to apply Belbin's (1993) Team Role Theory. The theory mentioned there are 9 roles in a successful team i.e. 1) Plant, 2) Resource Investigator, 3) Coordinator, 4) Shaper, 5) Monitor Evaluator, 6) Teamworker, 7) Implementer, 8) Completer Finisher and 9) Specialist. The above 9 roles divided into 3 groups i.e. i) action / task oriented, ii) social / people skills oriented and iii) intellectual / thinking / ideas oriented.
Suggesting to brief students about these roles, then assign each student with a role most suitable to him or her. Segregating students with same attitudes / behaviors in different teams if possible. If can't segregate them in different teams - ask each of them play different role in the same team. Doing this will minimize the team work impact e.g. when 2 students who are very vocal in the same team playing the same role as "shaper" can jeopardize the team work.
Hi Debra,
For students to be able to work together effectively as a team, they need to develop some soft skills such as communication, interpersonal, leadership, organizational, planning, time management, etc. Some times, students also work better in teams when they are allowed to choose their group members. I also think regular formative feedback or meeting with the teams in the course of the assignments can help in strengthening cooperation and effectiveness.
Cheers,
Semiyu
Some really interesting responses here, and helpful range of resources. I am however surprised there is little mention of the benefits of a collaborative basis, in particular, a search on 'cooperative group work' will bring up specific examples of how well this particular method can work as a framework - and practicing and learning the benefits suited to a well-functioning workplace that values all contributors.
We also use elements of self and peer assessment, where part of the planning involves decisions about what sort of contribution will help reach the goal/s, and an emphasis on process rather than product.
Working on the course projects and delegating Mentor Mentees in your classroom is helpful to graduate students in the proces of developing good communication and collaborative skills in conjunction with time and project management skills. In addition, ateam assess the performance and contributions of each group member to make sure that everyone works well individually ans as a Team member.
Hi, Debra!
I consider that to acquire a sucessful team work. First of all, as teachers we need to show the rules or steps, or maybe a model of the work that we require. They need as group organize a schedule of assignments, and determine roles
Isbe M.
Dear Debra, first of all - each team must consist of intellectuals students who aspire to the victory of his team. The team should all be on an equal concern for each other (solidarity).
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"The team architecture means setting up an organization that helps people produce that great work in teams".
------- Jay Chiat
You may want to check out:
Keene, M., & Erford, B. T. (2007). Group activities: Firing up for performance. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
http://www.amazon.com/Group-Activities-Firing-Up-Performance/dp/0131709046
Team work is established by synergy of members. Team work is also manifest in good harmony a good chemistry among team members. Peer-to-peer interaction and allowing diversity amongst members could be success factors for such teams.
Foreign languagues teachers know very good ways how to empower cooperation between members of a group and to use it to support creative thinking and active understanding of the topic. They use it in every lesson.
Similar techniques is possible to use in theoretical classes as well. Two simple examples.
1. "Create the group of three, think about the method and write three negative and three positive aspect of this solution".(for example: integration of children with disability to common school). Than share it and we will write it on a board.
2. "Together in a group do a mental map on big paper on the topic "Burn out syndrome". Write causes, symptoms and treatment."
Hi Debra,
There are many Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) that are aimed to improve team work and collaboration among students. ITSs are computer based systems that provide individualised learning environment and adaptive feedback messages.
Just a few suggestions:
Baghaei, Nilufar, Antonija Mitrovic, and Warwick Irwin. "Supporting collaborative learning and problem-solving in a constraint-based CSCL environment for UML class diagrams." International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 2.2-3 (2007): 159-190.
Perera, Dilhan, et al. "Clustering and sequential pattern mining of online collaborative learning data." Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on 21.6 (2009): 759-772.
Dear Debra, I have written a paper on collaborative learning where I used the 5 ideas of Johnson and Johnson, the very well known exponents of collaborative learning. The most important thing our students need to know is: WE SWIM OR SINK TOGETHER. (Just like what Hazim and some others have been saying.)
Article Facilitating Cooperative Learning Among Matriculation Biology Students
Yes Martina, the teacher is the natural facilitator. We cannot run away from that, and we just have to develop our ability in that direction. You say 'balancing differences', and to do so, I make the members of each group as heterogenous as possible (gender, ethinic group, and academic ability) and I need to supervise the groups closely that no one is having a free ride. Thanks.
I recommend to read the attached papers on collaborative and networked learning.
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story."
------ Casey Stengel
Competition is to motivate students to work in team where every person has deep specified and sometimes interdisciplinary knowledge
http://reimagine-education.com/the-winners-individual/55/Improvement+of+practical+skills+of+engineering+students
The best way is to rate the students in groups. This include giving students group assignments, in various group sizes to allow total interference among them. i.e one assignment in pairs, the other in groups of 2s, 3s or 5s, depending on the class size. One method also is to encourage group presentations.
Hi,
I would recommend the two following books:
• Brookfield's, The Skillful Teacher (http://www.amazon.com/Skillful-Teacher-Technique-Responsiveness-Classroom/dp/1118450299/)
• Wlodkowski's, Enhancing Adult Motivation To Learn (http://www.amazon.com/Enhancing-Adult-Motivation-Learn-Comprehensive/dp/0787995207)
The first has specific information on things you can do (a specific chapter in the text). The second does not have specific instructions, but gives a good overview of what might go wrong and why.
From personal experience, my challenges with team work in the HE classroom almost always had to do with the epistemic beliefs of the students. If the students ascribe to an authoritarian conception of knowledge transmission, then the group/team dynamics could be very hit-or-miss (even if there were scaffolding techniques employed to help them learn team building and effective team work strategies).
If you want to do some literature searching, I'd recommend looking in the areas of undergraduate engineering education and law school education (2 different paradigms of team work).
Finally, my one bit of anecdotal wisdom that I'll share: When doing team work activities for my educational inquiry (PhD-level) class, I assign low-stakes group activities that simply cannot be done by one person (e.g., here are 25 articles or 2-4 books to read for next week). This has forced students to work in a collaborative manner to accomplish the learning outcomes. In the two semesters that I've done this, the results have been spectacular; the students indicated that they were nervous at first, but came to enjoy it; and it went far in helping establish a cohesive cohort of students (and future collaborators).
Hope this helps. All the best.
Dear Debra,
I would recommend this book:
Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons.
ISO 690
Team Building Objective - The ability to build relationships of participation and cooperation with other people. It involves sharing resources and knowledge, harmonizing interests and contributing actively to reach the objectives of the organization.
One effective approach to improving the awareness of the workplace has been the placement of students into employment during their degree studies e.g. sandwich programmes. These programmes provide students with real work placements of varying durations. Programmes of work experience/placement/internship add value to a student’s education and better prepare them for work. Research has shown that students who have been on such programmes gain higher classifications in their degrees and obtain employment more quickly than those students who do not undertake work experience.
http://www.skillsdevelopment.org/knowledge_portal/e-zine/spring_2011/the_case_for_vocational.aspx
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team."
------ John C. Maxwell
Human experience shows that the best learning achieved in game situations. Consequently, a team of students must be constantly involved in the case of game situations, which should be exciting (generated positive emotions), cognitive (acquired skills), developing specific skills.
Social software has already gained its popularity and played an important role in students’ daily life, using it for the purpose of collaborative learning is believed to be promising
http://www.carstenullrich.net/pubs/Li10Using.pdf
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."
------ Vince Lombardi
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Football is football and talent is talent. But the mindset of your team makes all the difference."
----- Robert Griffin III
Dear Debra,
we developed at Universities of Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Furtwangen, San Salbador Brazil the teaching model TheoPrax since 20 years. Team work beside project work on industrial items beginning with 1 st semester is one main feature. If interested you find a lot of publications at reseach gate concerning TheoPrax. We accompany the fundamental project work continually with moduls in project management and there in the moduls for team building, conflict management, communication, swot analysis, aso.
Best regards
Peter
There's a good amount of research about groups in communication journals. Two things I do:
1. Spend some time in class talking about what makes an effective group as well as students' prior experiences. Getting them to talk about these issues brings them out into the open.
2. Have groups create their own contract (or set of ground rules) in order to self-govern the group. If students have more ownership of what happens in the group, they tend to function more effectively.
Groups consist of a number of complex individuals whose motivation levels may vary dramatically. The one most important contributing factor to the effectiveness of a group is getting them on the same page, ie working together for a common goal. The diversity of the group can contribute to the highly effective functioning of the group and this can be achieved if the group can identify the problem and find the best person to do the individual parts of solving the problem.
A company works effectively and achieves success with all people working together for the common good of the company. Likewise the effective group assigns and delegates positions to the competent individuals that make up the group. Essential for effective team work is open communication channels, where continual feedback is given respectfully. For a group to work effectively it needs to have a leader who delegates; individuals competent in breaking the task into the component parts; a 'whip' to make the task move along and stay task oriented, on a timely basis; a person to work through the process checking and managing corrections; and a person accountable for making sure the process is complete and satisfying to all.
NB - The three pdf files provided as attachments by one of the colleagues are most helpful.
The ability to coordinate the work of peers and subordinates will ensure success in a task, and encouraging a positive attitude towards one another will not only promote teamwork but will contribute toward a pleasant working experience. The ability to make timely decisions based on thorough assessments, recognize the outcomes of these assessments and identify who needs to be involved is essential in successful management.
http://www.heqco.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/Peer%20Helper%20ENG.pdf
There are many recommendations for the organization of the creative team of students. Firstly, it is necessary to take into account the students' psychological compatibility. Secondly, it is advisable to identify the leader of a team of students. Thirdly, it is necessary to put the creative task, which is of interest to students. Fourthly, it is necessary to think about techniques to stimulate and promote the successful implementation of the work.
this article provides an example from the design discipline where students work in teams which are paired with student teams based at other universities https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215967327_Internationalisation_from_Home_a_Global_Collaborative_Project_Base_Learning
I hope you will find this useful, Erik
Article Internationalisation from Home a Global Collaborative Projec...
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Characteristics of Effective Teams
Research into effective teams in a wide range of contexts identifies the following common characteristics:
- Membership: two or more individuals work together toward a common goal
- Common goal: the members have negotiated shared aims and goals
- Social organisation: the group develops or actively negotiates functional norms, roles, and relationships
- Interdependence between members: members succeed only if all succeed
- Productive involvement: all members are supported to contribute equally to the workload; resources and skills are identified early on and used effectively. Decisions are made by consensus.
- Effective communication and interaction: face-to-face and other modes of communication help to monitor group processes and dynamics, drive creativity and enable productive work practices
- Mutual interest: members focus on the interests of the group as a whole, and avoid personalising problems or differences of opinion
- Collective consciousness: members perceive themselves as belonging to the group even when the group is not together
- Mutual trust: members listen to each other, respect contributions, help each other to clarify ideas, and show interest in each other
- Cohesion: group processes function smoothly without need for intervention, members are able to contribute equally to produce something greater than the individual parts, individual contributions are brought together seamlessly and within nominated deadlines, and members feel they have learnt something from the process and from the other group members.
Adapted from Maughan & Webb, Lawyering Skills and the Legal Process; and Hay Dungey & Bochner Making the Grade: A Guide to Successful Communication and Study
It is not always necessary to achieve all of these elements or attain a high level of group cohesion to end up with good results; though it certainly helps."
Please, the following interesting links for details:
http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/lasc/professional-skills/tips-for-effective-teamwork
http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p7_9
http://www.bayt.com/en/career-article-2761/
http://nrich.maths.org/6933
Our experience about developing good team-working skills is to integrate into Syllabus real Problem solving for external Partners. This Project work in Groups runs in an order-offer-relationship and is signed legaly by the students and the Company and the University/School. After almost 2000 Projects in Germany, Austria and Brazil we know: This Methode develops Team skills and a lot more.
Peter
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
"Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. "
---- Vince Lombardi quotes
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
Here is a REAL nice ADVICE for junior researcher:
"What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team."
----- Benjamin Franklin Fairless
we all are favorit about working in teams. We describe the advantages of team work on the skills of our students.
Looking at industry inventions and as a consequence innovations now a days are only possible in cooperating teams. In industry team work is necessary to survive. At schools and universities many colleagues talk about how important team work is, a few practice team work and integrate it into the syllabus. Most of us who practice team work use therefore a lower part of lecturing hours. Still dominating worlwide is the so called frontal lecture with an active teacher and passive sitting individuals. The sitting Feature is a row of chairs. Where are the tables with 3-4 chairs around them??? One big argument is that team work is not possible with 100, 300, 500 or 1000 students in front of the teacher. Has anyone realy tried it. Hardly? consequent? We did it and it is possible!! and successful. But it is much more work to do than standing in front and lectureing.
I would be delighted if we beginn a discussion about how to change teaching in reality.
Greetings from Peter
Peter:
Please lead off this discussion with a new question or begin right here. I am very interested to learn how you successful got 300 plus students to work in teams.
Best regards,
Debra
Debra, I will follow your suggestion and open a new question. Good Idea, thank you.
Perhaps we manage to find a suitable methode. I will tell you our way in a persoal message not to disturb the new question. Later on I´ll make it public.
do you agree?
Peter
Debra and Peter - let's see your new question! I have found that group/cooperative work is the best way to deal with larger groups of students, interested to hear your ideas/experiences! The flexibility of the space you have to work in definitely makes a difference.
Cheers, Annabelle
Dear Anabelle,
I put the question to RG. After a few days I will open our experiences.
Thank you for your interesrt
best regards Peter
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