Kate Cammack, CfT Co-Director
As an educator, I have:
[ ] assumed students know how to work in groups, based on past courses/experiences
[ ] assumed that students are adults who can figure out how to work together
[ ] heard students say that they hate groupwork and/or prefer to work independently
[ ] had students complain about group conflicts/problems to me
[ ] found it challenging to grade/provide feedback on groupwork
If I could put 100 check marks in each of these boxes, I would.
As educators, we know that teamwork is an important skill for their college experience, career readiness (e.g., this, this), and post-college lives. We also know that groupwork can go sideways quickly. With experience, we find new ways to structure groupwork to avoid pitfalls and minimize conflicts – what can be thought of as teamwork administration.
But how many of us actually dedicate class time to helping students build the skills needed for effective teamwork – what can be thought of as teamwork pedagogy?
Goldsmith & colleagues (2024) remind us that asking students to work in teams isn’t the same as teaching the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) necessary for teamwork. But, because few of us received training in how to teach these skills, we often don’t do it (myself included).
Key take-aways:
- teamwork, groupwork & taskwork are defined differently, and the differences will shape your goals & expectations and your students’ experience (pg 2)
- teamwork requires different competencies, including an understanding of how individual identities might contribute to teamwork processes (pg 2-3)
- teamwork pedagogy can take multiple forms, including didactic instruction, active learning techniques (e.g., exercises, case studies, role-play), and reviews/check-ins incorporated into the teamwork itself; a meta-analysis found that teamwork is improved by active learning & reviews but not didactic instruction (pg 4)
- while different disciplines might require distinct KSAs, they are largely generalizable (pg 6)
- while teamwork administration can promote equity & belonging, teamwork pedagogy can help students to cultivate skills for equitable collaboration and positive interdependence both inside and outside of the classroom (pg 7)
How this might inform your teaching:
The authors suggest four evidence-based, pedagogical approaches, including (pg 4-5):
- Team charters – these “describe the behavioral norms that teams wish to establish at the outset of a project and can have bearing on knowledge (e.g., the need to manage meetings), skills (e.g., effective communication), and attitudes (e.g., importance of working together).” Here are two resources on group contracts & group agreements.
- Dr. Lydia Reinig does a lot of work on our campus related to community standards and group dynamics — for instance, students might (a) think about the best (or worst) groups that they’ve worked in, (b) articulate what made those groups so effective/satisfying, and (c) what group expectations or goals could they establish to help their group operate in those ways. She is a terrific resource and we encourage you to reach out to her with questions, suggestions & resources.
- Dr. Lydia Reinig does a lot of work on our campus related to community standards and group dynamics — for instance, students might (a) think about the best (or worst) groups that they’ve worked in, (b) articulate what made those groups so effective/satisfying, and (c) what group expectations or goals could they establish to help their group operate in those ways. She is a terrific resource and we encourage you to reach out to her with questions, suggestions & resources.
- Case studies – these “provide short written descriptions of hypothetical, but likely, scenarios that could occur during teamwork and use the scenario as the basis for group discussions that identify the problems and consider potential solutions.” Here’s a video case study that Kristen Cecala used in her biology course.
- Role-play – these activities “provide the opportunity for students to practice and receive feedback on how they would respond to hypothetical, but likely, scenarios that could occur during teamwork.”
- Self- or team-reflection exercises – these “offer the opportunity for students to practice metacognition and grow in their attitudes towards teamwork.”
We know how complex groupwork can be, and plan to hold future sessions where we can discuss both teamwork administration and pedagogy, as both are important & valuable. Stay tuned for more CfT programming around these issues.
For more, please check out the full paper:
- Goldsmith et al (2024) Overcoming the Barriers to Teaching Teamwork to Undergraduates in STEM. CBE—Life Sciences Education 23:es2
Interested in contributing to SoTL Corner with a summary of a SoTL article? Please contact Kate at kmcammac@sewanee.edu