My Experiences of Group Projects in the Classroom
I resonated immediately with Ellen Lupton’s comment, “In my own experiences as a student, I have enjoyed voluntary, informal collaborations with my friends, but I have resented being forced into arbitrary, mismatched teams in the name of social correctness.” As a student, I found that most “group projects” in the classroom quickly became “let Cheri do the work and we’ll copy” projects.
As a teacher, I’ve used group projects with varying degrees of success. The most successful were those for which “the students had a degree of individual ownership” and “a commitment to the coherence of the overall project,” (Lupton).
When I taught junior high, we did several simulation games (from Interact) each year, for which the students were divided into teams. The most popular -- Flight -- involved teams of three: a pilot, a copilot, and a navigator. Each person played a very specific role, which most of the students took very seriously. And, contrary to prevailing wisdom, I had no problem ousting non-cooperative group members and letting them “fly solo” if they were dragging down the morale and grades of their group.
Benefits of Group Projects
When group projects go well, I believe they spark some of the best learning that takes place in my classroom. Even sworn introverts are often surprised by how much they learn from the collaborative process. While I certainly see the role of individual work, I think it's extremely limited and limiting. (But then, I’m biased; my favorite thing in the world is synergy! I work and learn so much better as part of a team than on my own; I seek out and benefit from lots of input from others.)
Obvious benefits include social skills (which need to be taught and modeled prior to and during the group process; we can’t just assume that “the kids know how to act.”) But it’s also just plain magical to see a new whole emerge from the group process, one that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Backtracking the process -- “I said, and then you added, and a day later, and from the book, and then we thought, and then . . . “ is a dizzying confirmation of how messy and exhilarating the group creativity process can be!
Plus, as quoted by Ellie Ashford in the eSN Special Report on small-group collaboration, Stan Silverman (director of technology-based learning systems at the New York Institute of Technology) explains, "Everyone needs to be able to collaborate in a group, because that’s how things are done in the real world. No one sits alone and works by themselves any more."
Silverman calls students who sit and watch while the teacher or a few students work up front “educational voyeurs.” He also points out what most of us know from experience: when the teacher lectures at the front of the class, (s)he “targets the instruction to the middle, ignoring the passive, inattentive students in the back and the more advanced students who might be bored because they already know the material.” Small group work has the potential to challenge advanced students while less advanced students receive much needed peer mentoring.
Some Frustrations of Group Projects
* Key group members missing due to illness, etc. so the group “can’t work because so-and-so isn’t here and (s)he has everything
* Groups that get off task easily
* Groups that settle for the bare minimum
* Groups that focus only on the points and miss out on the process
* Individual group members who either don’t care how they impact the group or actively seek to have a negative impact or have a diagnosable condition that makes it so challenging for them and/or their group members that the purpose for the group becomes secondary to survival
How Online Tools Can Help Group Projects
My initial experience with the Internet was twenty years ago, with discussion bulletin boards and an e-mail “loop” involving a group of thirty Stay At Home Moms. I discovered the powerful community that could be built between women who had never met face-to-face. We explored parenting issues together. We supported each other through difficult life situations. For several years, we pooled money and sent “welcome baby” gift packages as new family members arrived. I learned how valuable a certain amount of anonymity and a great deal of asynchronicity could be.
I believe that asynchronicity is one of the major benefits of online group tools. There are twenty of us in this course, and we know by the date/time stamps that we’re not all doing the exact same assignment at the exact same time; in fact, the flexibility is probably one of the main reasons we’re taking this course!
So why would we assume that in a class of 30 students, each and every one of those 30 individuals are just ready and waiting to learn the way we need/want them to, all at the same time in the same place? Online group tools give our students some element of choice regarding when and how they participate in the group activities; for certain personalities, learning styles, and life situations, this is vital. Online tools also give students a bit of "cover" due to the perceived anonymity. I regularly have students express themselves more frequently and more fully via our online forums than in the classroom; there seems to be an extra element of safety.
Online tools can help us, as teachers, be more effective as we work with our students. In December 2009, Jim Burke started the English Companion Ning on a whim -- he had just gotten back from the NCTE and realized that very few new teachers had attended, so he wanted to create a place where new teachers could rub virtual shoulders with seasoned teachers.
As of tonight, more than 13,500 people have joined what’s been dubbed “the world’s largest English department.” It allows teachers (and librarians and others!) to experience the benefits of collaboration described by Carla Thomas McClure without ever having to leave home. One of the first book clubs on the EC Ning was led by Harvey Daniels and Stephanie Harvey focused on their new book Collaboration and Comprehension: Inquiry Circles in Action.
Taking this a step further, I now follow Jim Burke on Delicious, and I’m planning to “stalk” as many other teacher-authors as I can, especially those who are still researcher-practioners in the classroom.
My Own Experiences with Online Collaboration Tools
Last year, I was so excited to use an online discussion forum with my AP English Literature and Composition class. I was mystified when it “failed to launch” -- the students wrote short, simplistic, often silly responses to the prompts and to each other. And a couple of months into the course, just as I was leaving for oral surgery, one of my “top” students decided to “flame” everyone with a caustic, insulting, rude, and completely inappropriate post.
In discussing this event with my academic vice principal, we recognized two major problems. First, the discussion forum did not look like or function like anything with which my students were familiar. And second, I had not taught the students anything about online etiquette.
This year, the students responded very positively to the Nings I’ve set up -- they look, feel, and function a lot more like Facebook. And before anyone was allowed to log on, we went through very specific “do”s and “don’t”s. And as students have violated the rules, accidentally or otherwise, I’ve had the opportunity to re-teach and reinforce positive virtual citizenship.
Alleviating Frustrations Caused by Online Tools
As discussed above, I’ve learned to assume nothing and teach everything. Just because my students think they are light years more tech savvy than I'll ever be, and just because I perceive them to be “digital natives” does not mean that they “know it all”. In fact, I’m learning how very poor they often are at transfering knowledge.
Also, from the voice of experience, always have a back-up plan! I recently had to scramble when our server was down during 4th period and all my students’ research note cards were trapped on NoodleTools.