Group items tagged

I completely replaced/revised the entry that was here for the following reasons: (a) Space would not allow me to just add my entry. (b) Both would be too long and unhelpful. (c) The original was not written as a instructional giudline. (d) Primarily becuase the entry simply used Harris' descriptions of the kinds of decisions we already make. It didn't give any prescriptive info that collaborative groups could use to make better decisions together. I replaced the original entry with his 6 step decision making procedure.

If I have been to presumptuous, then the original text of the entry is pasted here.
1) Optimizing
Try to discover as many alternatives as possible and choose the very best. The criteria to look at:
a. importance of the problem
b. time available for solving it
c. cost involved with alternative solutions
d. availability of resources, knowledge
e. personal psychology, values
2) Satisficing
This strategy suggests that the first satisfactory alternative is chosen rather than the best alternative. For example, if you are very hungry, you might choose to stop at the first decent looking restaurant in the next town rather than attempting to choose the best restaurant from among all (the optimizing strategy). The word satisficing was coined by combining satisfactory and sufficient.
3) Maximax
This stands for "maximize the maximums." This strategy focuses on evaluating and then choosing the alternatives based on their maximum possible payoff. This is sometimes described as the strategy of the optimist, because favorable outcomes and high potentials are the areas of concern. It is a good strategy for use when risk taking is most acceptable, when the go-for-broke philosophy is reigning freely.
4) Maximin
This stands for "maximize the minimums." In this strategy, that of the pe

This could be rewritten into "guideline" format somewhat readily, for example: A flowchart is: a visual representation.......... Flowcharts show: x., y., z., etc. They have shown: a., b., c., They allow learners to: ....... michele w

Michelle, Consider restating your comment. The way you've written it out with spaces between the lines isn't clear. How is what you've suggested any different than what Melissa wrote? I'm confused... :) (Its a regular feeling these days).

I would start by stating the purpose or function of the guideline (instead of stating it at the end of the guidelines). For example: "In order to allow learners to....., have students produce flowcharts that represent....etc.etc.

Hi Jesse- I guess I was trying to save space doing that-- I meant putting a colon after the verbs, then listing or bulleting the rest. I.E. Flow Charts allow: -large text -ease of enhancement -simultaneous editing -promotion of discourse michele w.

(Melissa Wilson) Hey guys! I completely agree with making this into a guideline as Dr. Jeong indicated. I believe I misunderstood exactly what I was supposed to be doing, and how this all was supposed to flow, but better understand now-thanks for the advice!

(Jesse Gentile) Allen, I agree 100%. They are definitely concept maps. But these were the diagrams in the documents you linked with this question so I was a bit confused. Why is this question separate from the one that follows it about flow charting? They seem fairly similar.

(Jesse Gentile) I created several diagrams to illustarte collaborative learing. I may create more as I have time.

(Jesse Gentile) I re-wrote much of this section entirely as a instructional guideline. Much of what was here was really just descriptive information about the kinds of skills students need but did not give any guidelines for instructors: The original is pasted here: * In addition to the levels of collaboration and necessary skills at each level, chapter 8 in the Johnson, Johnson & Holubec outlined the following guidelines for the skills students should possess: 1) Teachers must keep in mind the fact that they have to teach students the skills they need for effective and productive collaboration. They must not assume that students possess these skills. 2) There are four levels of cooperative skills that students use as they divide roles in collaborative learning: * Forming Skills - Skills needed to establish a cooperative learning group * Functioning Skills - Skills needed to manage the group's activities and maintain working relationship among members * Formulating Skills - Skills needed to increase student understanding of material being studied, stimulate the use of higher-quality reasoning strategies, and maximize mastery and retention of material * Fermenting Skills - Skills needed to stimulate reconceptualization of the material being studied, cognitive conflict, the search for more information, and the communication of the rationale behind one's conclusions. 3) There are five steps in teaching teamwork skills: * Establish the need for the skill * Define the skill * Guide practice of the skill * Guide feedback and reflection * Repeat steps 3 & 4 frequently

(Kenisha Thompson) Thank you for your willingness to re-write the section as a guideline. As a matter of semantics, my problem was with creating guidelines because I was submitting principles that instructors must follow based on the articles. Also, I thought our instructions were to bring across the main points of the articles to those who were in other groups. Sorry about the confusion.

I would delete the bold font in these bullet points. Same below.

This is much better, Jesse. Thank you! If you could, please indent and align the remaining block of text.

What you have here are the beginning of what could be a potentially useful guideline. Perhaps you can start by saying something like this: "GUIDELINE#XX: One of the limitations of asynchronous discussions is that conversations often diverge and branch into multiple topics, and ideas raised in the conversations are rarely summarized and brought to closure or consensus. To promote convergence (define it here), one can do the following: ......" Also, the ideas presented in the bullets are a bit vague and may need more explanation.

Levels 1 - 5 look very similar to the way they appear in the Salmons text. This is all very helpful information and I understand why you would want to include it in the wiki document. One recommendation is to change it into a guideline by saying something like "In order to encourage true collaboration in the dialogue stage, be sure to model and explain the following skills: (then list the skills). Something similar could be done for the other 4 levels as well. Another idea is to post a few examples of how one might model and explain these behaviors for students. (Activities that could be done in the classroom to help students practice the skills).

(Kenisha Thompson) Thank you for the feedback, Heidi. This was one of my first contributions and I think I leaned more towards summarizing the articles and submitting principles rather than guidelines.  Also, your suggestions were very good.  I'll incorporate them for my final submissions.

This question does not seem "guideline friendly". It would be difficult to answer the question and post guidelines at the same time so I understand why there are not specific guidelines here. It would be nice to have the following affordances and limitations grouped so that all of the affordances are together and all of the limitations are together. I think it would be easier for the reader if it were organized in that way.

(Kenisha Thompson) Heidi, you bring up a good point. If a person is looking to answer these questions, then they are not going to come up with a guideline, but rather an answer or solution. The instructions tell us to organize the guidelines around the questions, but that can be confusing.

Thanks for the comment Heidi. I will try to rearrange the contents and make sure that it is placed under a specific heading as to provide a better guideline.

When I read this, I find it somewhat 'distasteful'. While I agree that it is important that practice will facilitate the students to be competent in the skills instructed, I find it unnecessary and more importantly, wrong to make sure that they are compelled to do so. In fact, I am very skeptical about the effectiveness of if the students need to be compelled into practising the skills. I think the onus is on the instructors to ensure that the students are willing to practice the skills over and over again through measures such as incentives' systems, etc.

Dave, The operative word as you suggest here is "willing"--instructors ensure students are willing....you mean by reward? the reward thing would tend to "compel" students also. michele w.

(Jesse Gentile) I think it was late when I wrote that out. Compell doesn't have to be the operative word here. Ensure, encourage, motivate... students to repatedly practice the skills until they become natural. I will say this though. Any of you who have taught in public school will know that sometimes it becomes an absolute mystery as to what would "motivate" students to do certain things. Adult learners in online settings will probably be far more cooperative than kids form socially unbalanced communities, but even adutls can be stubborn if they just don't want to do something. As all of us move back out into the 24/7 world I want to encourage all us as classmates to be ready for things to NOT work like the research says they will. A great discouragement for me as a public school teacher was constantly hearing people OUTSIDE the classroom saying "If you only did this, if you only did that... then everyhting would be alright. Everyone certainly does and will put the onus of responsibility on the teacher to make anything and everything happen in the classroom. What we don't realize though is that teachers reach a point of exhaustion where they simply can not do all and be all that everyone is calling them to do. In a 2006 article by washingtonpost.com I read the popular statistic that 50% of teachers quit in the first 5 yeras of that career. I realize this post is not about public school teachers, but I couldn't help throwing in this personal conviciton . I agree with Dave, but I remember all my undergrad college professors saying, "If you do this, if you do that.. .then this will happen."

I am curious to know how it is determined that Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) will derive a greated total effort of group as compared to face-to-face learning. I will think that it depends largely on whether the activities conducted in the face-to-face learning sessions promote collaboration amongst the learners. If they do, I will think that we human beings as social animals may not fare too badly in the total effort of group as compared to CSCL learning.

Dave, I think some of the research suggests that since all the non-verbal ques of things like gender, personality, and learning style are absent online, there is a more "level playing field", and less tendency to capitalize on/exploit/discriminate, etc. than in f2f environments. My hope is that there will always be human activities that necessitate f2f, while other things may be better suited for online. michele wirt

I think this is a subjective matter and some people would prefer CSCL over f2f activities. I would think that the author (McConnell) would provide this information based on previous research results. In my opinion, the number one reason for why group effort is much better in CSCL is because of the flexibility of time. People are more comfortable and contribute better ideas if they have they are able to work at their own time and pace.

(Melissa Wilson) I agree and also believe this is a very subjective matter-a lot is going to be based upon the learners involved. However, this particular aspect is referring to the "total effort of the group" and I think this would often be greater in a computer-supported environment. Evidence shows that learners who participate in distance learning are often motivated individuals. These are learners who often work in CSCL. There is often a greater flexibility of time, resulting in less frustration. Tasks can be divided up amongst group members and accountability factors can remain in place to promote participation and effort.

I somewhat felt quite differently in this aspect. While I agree that students are able to multi-task, I am not sure if the depth of analysis will increase likewise. Afterall, if I made a comment and there is no reply/ response from my classmates/ instructor until 2-3 days later, I may have already forgotten the key ideas/ rationale that prompted me to submit the posting in the 1st place. On the other hand, I will think that face-to-face learning sessions will allow the students to engage in in-depth discussions as long as time is permissible. Nonetheless, I do agree that TIME is a premium but I believe it is a constraint that learners in both CSCL and face-to-face settings will experience anyhow. Somehow, I find it hard to believe if someone tells me that a CSCL learner has more time than a face-to-face learner. I will agree that CSCL has more flexibility in time management though.

Dave, But then, in f2f environments, the school day/period ends, sometimes with a day or even a week in between in higher ed. Online, there is more of a sense of flux as you suggest. As for "forgetting", I think you may have a point in that it may be more diffucult to forget when you don't have all your senses with their associations working together like you do in f2f. mwirt

(Kenisha Thompson) Also, regarding multi-tasking, you have the option of having multiple windows open and collaborating ideas from several different sources. For instance, if you read something online, you can go out to other sites and do more research and post about it to the discussion board. In a f2f class, the conversation is less scattered and is restricted to what the instructor or students want to present.

Thanks for your comments. I'll try to include them in the final report.

(Melissa Wilson) So... you could say that learners will remain on task more in a f2f environment because the "conversation is less scattered." Learners in a CSCL environment have a greater flexibility to multi-task and may tend to get off task during this. I am a learner who remains more on task through distance learning than I did in a traditional f2f classroom. I think this entire chart is difficult honestly...because each depends on the learners and environment involved. As far as time, I think like Dave said, it depends on the class and how often the meetings occur.

%&%nbsp;Is this the same as a web diagram (see the following links for examples)? http://exchange.ucop.edu/__Help/Web Help/00011EFD-80000002/00011EFE-80000002/Project Resources - Edu/Graphic Organizers - Edu/F1043 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/bbtech/bbeng34.pdf

Formatting: You may want to bullet these items to match your previous postings :-)

Thanks Sharisse, I'll try to reorganize the contents and include the bullets before the final submission of this report.

(Melissa Wilson) Sharisse or Sya, You're just referring to the author title here, correct?

These sound really thought provoking-might do well to give a brief description or example, or even a Diigo comment. michele wirt

Well, I agree that they are not very self-explanatory :) although I will want to think that the 'audience' will exercise their "creativity" in interpreting these 5 different methods of random assignment. Nonetheless, I think a brief description or example will be helpful to facilitate the understanding. 1. The Math Method - ask students to (a) solve the problem; (b) find the students with same answer; and (c) form the group 2. States and Capitals - (a) divide the class into 2 groups; (b) write down the names of the states and their capitals on cards; (c) students with matching cards will be paired together 3. Historical Figures - (a) write names of historical figures on cards; (b) distribute cards to students; (c) form groups by matching the same historical period they lived 4. Literary Characters - (a) distribute cards with names of characters from literature the students recently read; (b) form groups by matching to the same story, play or poem 5. Personal Preferences - (a) get students to write their favorite sport/ food/ celebrity/ skill/ car/ etc; (b) form groups by matching similar preferences.

Is this section an elaboration of item 4c listed above? If not, which/where is the guideline for this section?

Somewhere here, we need to define the term "Role interdependence.

Is this referring to work done by L. R. Goldberg? A link to information about Goldberg's Personality Trait Index would be appropriate here.

(Robert Barton) The link has been added. Thank you for noting our omission. This reference is accessed through the course website under "Documents".

To re-write this as an instructional objective, you could start with something like: "Some of the things you could to to make sure students take personal responsibility for their groups tasks and outcomes (what we call individual accountability) include..."

I find the possibility of turning this kind of info into an instructional guideline both challening and limiting. None the less, perhaps this entry and the one below it could be re-written as an instructional guidline (alhtough much detail would be lost) in the following manner: As an instructors or designer you need to take concrete steps to find out the communiction and learning styles of your learners. Are they (1) convergent thinkers (2) Divergent thinkers (3) Assimilators or (4) Accomodators? (Charactersitics of each can be found here-- CLICK HERE) Conisder using the following tools to find out the above characteristics of your students: (1) Felder and Silverman's index of leairng styles questionaire (2) Hay Group Assessments (3) Goldberg's Personality Trait Index assessment, or the (4) Learning and Study Strategy Inventory (LASSI). Details about each of these tools can be found here (CLICK HERE)

Of the three articles that were required for this section, was there more information available for methods used to establish positive interdependence? For instance, could you elaborate more on the definition of positive interdependence, for those who may be reading the report and cannot fully grasp the concept of what positive interdependence is.

(Robert Barton) Per Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, the element of positive interdependence is one of five required elements for cooperative learning to occur. Positive interdependence is informing the group that they must work together to accomplish an assigned task. These group member's must realize that each person's efforts not only benefit the individual, but the team as well. Positive interdependence creates a committment to the success of others, and individually. Without positive interdependence, there is no cooperation (p. 9).

Error on link. May want to correct for the final wiki report

(Robert Barton) Thanks for the information. This link was working fine when I posted it. I'll research it and try to find another one.

Who prepares the group contract? The members of the group or the professor? Who assures that the items established in the contract are executed? What would be an example of a group contract?

(Robert Barton) Group contracts are written by the group members. Items to be included are showing up to class, being prepared, contributing to all aspects of the assignment, etc. The group takes it upon themselves to execute all items in the contract, as a form of ownership. If there are any conflicts thoughout the learning process, the instructor will step in and resolve them.

learning

How do you determine which students should be assigned to which group whereby they'll reap the maximum learning benefits? What is the determing factor? Is the the number of group members or level of education or etc.?

There is something a bit wrong grammatically with this statement - I think you could either take off the word "By" or move "Help maximize student learning" to the beginning of the sentence.

Are you referring to student or instructor functions here? If these are student functions, examples of roles (team leader, record keeper, secretary, etc.) could be helpful as examples of how these functions transfer into roles.

Were suggestions given on how the students should perform these functions? For instance, would the student be given guidance on how to get group members to practice critical thinking skills?

Should the numbering of the following entries be continued from above? Furthermore, group contracts are discussed just above this entry. Is there a way to incorporate the two so that the info about group contracts is centrally located?

(Melissa Wilson) Contradictory The guideline indicates implied responsibilities, meaning those responsibilities that are understood without explicitly being stated...but then below the guideline, is the indication of things the instructors should tell the groups

(Robert Barton). Interesting point of view. I read the article again and based on Dr. Jeong's research, these statements are correct. But I'm in agreement with you. One would assume that students that are more outgoing wouldn't necessarily be timid in their postings.

(Melissa Wilson) Sorry...I may be misreading-clarification needed: Per the article, students post more responses when they are less outgoing (less extraverted)? It just seems as if those whose personalities are unreserved would be more likely to post responses than those who are reserved, as they wouldn't be afraid to share their feelings or thoughts and wouldn't be afraid to be challenged on those. Am I misinterpreting? Thanks!

I would say that this method is used to directly increase individual accountability given that students are asked to evaluate the performance of individual students. Nevertheless, some of the individual behaviors that are assessed and promoted in peer evaluations will indirectly increase inter-dependence. Overall, I guess its a toss up as to which category or function is performed by using this method.

Maybe we can use a wiki to compile all the peer ratings into one single worksheet. I think that efficiency is a must here so that students can concentrate on the main task - building and defending their arguments. Any other ideas on how best to implement the peer review process? Another question: How many times do the student evaluate one another during each debate? Is this a summative or formative evaluation?

How would the peer ratings count towards the students' participation score for participating in the debate?

Perhaps one can present more social skill tips and/or training over the course of the semester so that students have all the prerequisite social skills by the time they participate in the last and the fourth debate in EME5457. The question is which specific social skills should be addressed in the course without committing too much time on this one activity?

Just a Point of information: There are a total of four debates in EME5457, dispersed over the 16 week semester.

I think that there should be a distinction made between an "intellectual skill" versus a "social skill". Formulating arguments and etc. is something I see as an intellectual/argumentation skill (like the "fermenting" skills or roles described by JJ&H). Social skills, on the other hand, is concerned with how to "present" an argument or a challenge without sounding sounding offensive or arrogant - presenting one's ideas in ways that maintains positive relationships between participants (e.g. focus on the issue not on individual personalities, etc.). Social skills are taught to help maintain positive social relationships.

I like how you stated the findings in terms of what Beichner "found" or "observed" in their study (as opposed to stating the finding in terms of a claim or position statement. This type of statement is more effective in establishing the credibility because it is explicitly linked to the study's findings.

This could also help reduce the amount of time students spend on producing a group contract, and therefore, reduce the work load placed on the students. One of my concerns is student's work load (which must be taken into consideration when we discuss any of the solutions proposed in this document. --Allan

Note that this one is the same concept as that proposed in method #4 "Teammanship Ratings"

This method could be presented or subsumed under the method "Assigning Roles" (Role Interdependence). Using message labeling is one way of implementing roles. Therefore, this entry could be presented under "Implementation Issues".

It seems then that we are assuming that "positive interdependence" can be measured and/or defined in terms of how often presented arguments are challenged (therefore, groups are both working and "thinking" together)? I think this is a very useful way of looking at the meaning of the term "positive interdependence". --Allan

Pre-Structured Discussion Threads = Instructor creates one discussion thread for posting Supporting Arguments. The instructor creates a separate thread for posting Opposing Arguments.

Thanks Pat for linking your analysis back to the weaknesses we identified in week 3. :-)

Using email to perform this role is a good idea so that the number of message posted to the discussion forum is kept at more manageable numbers. I often perform this role myself by posting messages of this kind to a separate discussion thread located at the top of the forum titled "Instructor comments".

Other factors include amount of content covered in the lesson, and the number of roles that must be performed to successfully complete the task.

I noticed that this method was not reported here in this group document. Check page 54 of JJH for the description. On impact, I would reference and report the effect size achieved from using "structured controversy" reported in the Johnson 2000 article. On the topic of how to implement this method (already implemented in the debate), maybe we can think of ways to use this method to improve the quality of the after-debate essay? --Allan

Each debate team could share a wiki document to summarize and list all their arguments so that everyone is working off one shared artifact (or environment). As a result, the wiki would also serve to establish goal interdependence (creating one joint product, see p 53 in JJH textbook). I don't have any leads on any studies that show what impact this strategy has on the group's performance. However, you could by way of analogy refer to the Cho2002 study where they report performance gains when students focused their joint attention on a group concept map while engaging in a group discussion.