Working in teams - a few strategies

Friday I attended a workshop put on by the Center for Teaching and Learning here at Boise State that focused on how to use small groups effectively in the classroom. The CTL brought in an outside lecturer to present the workshop, Larry Michaelsen. Larry has worked since the 1980s on his idea of "Team Based Learning" which encompasses how to use small group, or team, work to the best advantage of the instructor.

Right off the bat I liked how Larry began the workshop. He greeted each participant at the door and handed out a short questionnaire for those present to begin filling out while waiting for everyone to arrive. After a short introduction he used the questionnaire answers to divide the class into groups. To get a mix of views in each group we tallied up scores of our thoughts on the effectiveness of small group teaching and then made a long line around the room in order of our scores. He them numbered off down the line to split us up and get diverse groups.

Larry's premise for effective small group teaching centers on his idea of teams. He recommends setting up groups at the beginning of the semester and then keeping those same groups throughout the class to foster a team atmosphere. I had not considered until that point how effective this could be and is definitely something I would consider implementing in my Comm 101 classes next semester as, during the first half of the semester, we do a lot of group work and activities.

One way to have effective work in small groups is to ensure the students read content before class. Since most students do not read the text before class, Larry recommends letting students know there will be a short quiz on the content at the beginning of class. He then has the students retake the quiz within their team to collaborate on the answers. In almost 100 percent of cases, the students do better when they take the quiz together. He used a unique concept for the group tests with scratch off test sheets so students could see right away if they were correct and could continue to answer questions for less points until they got the right answer.

This exercise made sure students were prepared to work in groups and had covered content before hand so then class discussion could commence.

Larry also gave some pertinent examples about ways to use groups in class, involving us as workshop participants. He gave the participants three group project scenarios to discuss in their groups and then had us hold up a number to indicate our group decision. This then sparked a larger class discussion on the issue.

The key issues to focus on when designing good group assignments, according to Larry, are:

• Significant problem - making sure the assignment is relevant to the students lives
• Same problem - having groups discuss the same problem as other groups
• Specific choice - use concepts to make a specific choice
• Simultaneous report - groups should report their information at the same time.

I'll end this post with an equation that sums up Larry's idea about how to learn effectively in groups:

Individual Work x Small Group Discussion x Total Class Discussion = Impact on Learning