Grouping Matters: A New Way of Thinking About Group Assignment

University Hall, ADP Center 1143

Group work is the bane of most students' academic experience, yet it is an integral part of many courses. Working well on a team (read: group) is one of the most highly sought after skills in the modern workforce. It would be impossible to think that a boss at some huge corporation would walk out into the staff area and create a team from every fourth employee, clump people in the nearest five carrells, or go through the HR rooster alphabetically to create a group. Yet, this is what many instructors do when they assign students into groups. Conventional wisdom used to be that it doesn't matter, or that the teams will "figure it out". Research shows that in some cases, this is far from true. Group membership has a direct impact on student and project success, should be reflective of the assignment, and should be included in the reflective process instructors already go through on a regular basis. This session will demonstrate three primary grouping types (random, self-select, and purposeful), discuss the pros and cons of each, and will introduce an online tool designed to make grouping based on criteria (purposeful) easier on the instructor. A demo will be included, as will hands-on time with the application.