Group items tagged

I was struck by the role of assumptions about collaboration and academic honesty in this piece.

"Collaboration reduces test anxiety" and "in most professional contexts, if you need an answer, consulting with others is almost always an option." How and why might you encourage students to practice collaborative skills in the traditionally isolated environment of a test or quiz?

The authors describe a simple two-stage exam method used in the physics department at the University of British Columbia. Two-stage exams provide an engaging collaborative learning opportunity which very effectively increases student mastery of the material.

These tips and techniques would benefit any breakout activity, but in online teaching this kind of structure will be crucial.

An interesting approach to the way an institution's design affects the kind of education it delivers. Considering Kenyon's ongoing consideration of general education requirements, I'll exerpt here the last paragraph as a prompt for discussion: "General education is often thought of as a means to expose students to a broad range of "essential" knowledge and to provide a historical context for the culture in which they live. These are valid, but insufficient, goals. The purpose of general education should be to produce graduates who are skilled in communication, imbued with quantitative reasoning skills, instinctively collaborative, inherently transdisciplinary in their approach to problems, and engaged in their local and global communities-broadly educated individuals with an informed perspective on the problems of the 21st century and the integrative abilities to solve them."

One of the benefits of group work could be learning to negotiate different expectations about work styles in a group. Recognizing that up front, instead of 3/4ths of the way through the project when the wheels come off, might help students learn better in collaboration, and feel better about group work. I've seen exercises like this used in leadership or "team-building" exercises - there's no reason this activity wouldn't work with a committee or department.

So you've decided to "free up" some class time by using technology differently in your class. What then? This article gives interesting examples of increasing group work in a "blended" classroom, and the kind of environment which supports independent but collaborative learning.

If the point of online discussion boards and collaborative projects is to get students discussing course ideas with each other, does it make sense to move those discussions to the social media venues they're already using?

This excerpt from Dee Fink's book "Creating Significant Learning Experiences" argues for using both "scoreboards" - clear and reliable grading criteria - and "applause" - praise for accomplishments - to motivate students. I was particularly taken with the exercise at the end of the section in which students and a professor collaborate on a letter to thank the student's previous teacher for contributing to the student's development.

An example assignment from the HASTAC Pedagogy Project suggests having students submit their bibliographies in process to peer review. Getting students to review one another's sources can help them think about their own, and breaking out the research step fights the tendency to write the whole paper at the last minute. (A similar collaborative feature is available in RefWorks, a web-based citation manager available through Kenyon LBIS.)

The author outlines modeling, collaboration, and reflection strategies for integrating a new technology resource into an existing course.

"To be seen, valued, and included was a critical aspect of their career satisfaction and affected the degree of connection they felt to their campuses." Great article from Kenyon's Jan Thomas and her collaborators.

"From love letters to pen pals, families, relationships, friendships, professional and creative collaborations, and the brilliant sudden intimacy between new acquaintances, correspondence over distance has sustained us for ages uncounted." Hopeful thoughts about pen pals, chain letters, and "writer's letters" from Sean Michael Morris.

The author proposes an innovative solution to small group assignment for a collaborative project. First, students create a resume sharing their interests, skills, and views on group work. Then, students provide the instructor with a short list of their most (and least) compatible partners.

This is described as "a work in progress" and "current status: brain dump" (6/24 3PM), and as such there are a couple head-scratchers on this reading list. At the same time, it's a fascinating example of digital collaboration as teachers work toward classroom discussions of current events.

Any one of these principles could be a guiding statement for an interesting course. Do you actually have to do all 10 of them? I'd argue not, although many do go hand in hand.

Students tend to hate group work, and I've come to believe it's because we have an unrealistically high expectation of students' skills at working in a group. Walking the students through the skills which the group task requires, and accurate assessment of their abilities and team composition, seems like a good step in teaching students what group work will be like in the working world (as well as positioning the students for success at the course work).

This paper gives good examples of ways to get students to work with course material in ways which lead to more complete and lasting understanding, instead of the surface acquisition of facts. Most of the activities listed are team activities.

This paper gives good examples of ways to get students to work with course material in ways which lead to more complete and lasting understanding, instead of the surface acquisition of facts. Most of the activities listed are team activities.

A review of the book "Minds On Fire", which discusses "subversive play" as an engaging pedagogy. Part 3 in a series on the "Reacting to the Past" series of "role-immersion" games; the other 2 entries are linked from this one.

A description of the Reacting to the Past educational role-playing game. This article talks about the mechanics of running a Reacting to the Past game in class; it links to a previous article in the series in which the author describes his experience playing the game.