Teaching Tip: How to make group projects work
March 24, 2015
If you mention group projects to students, you will most likely receive negative feedback
on the prospect of having to work with peers on a project that affects individual
grades. Group projects are especially important, though, “because they model real-world
activity,” according to Chris Hartman, UAF Computer Science Department associate professor.
The majority of software companies look at a job applicant's teamwork and communication
skills.
The key is guidance, modeling and formative assessment by the instructor. At different
points along the project timeline, you should interact with the students, examine
their progress and guide them toward professional practice.
Various software can provide an accurate revision history of projects. Anyone involved
with the project can see changes and authorship over time, as well as comments and
communications between peers. Expectations for this interaction can be provided to
students ahead of time via a simple rubric.
Read the full Teaching Tip on iTeachU for more tool and pedagogy ideas related to group projects.
Teaching Tip by Dan LaSota, UAF eLearning instructional designer.