Designing Student Work Groups for Increased Learning: An Empirical Investigation

Students' Perceptions of Classroom Group Work as a Function of Group Member Selection

“…For students enrolled in small group communication courses, their dislike for working in groups is associated negatively with their perceived affective and cognitive learning (Myers & Goodboy, 2005). Yet, members of self-selected groups perceive that they learn more from their group experience than members of instructor-selected groups (Latting & Raffoul, 1991) and when students belong to classroom work groups composed solely of acquaintances (i.e., they fail to develop relationships with their group members), they report less Communication Teacher 53 affective and cognitive learning than students who belong to classroom work groups composed of members whom they consider to be friends (Myers et al, 2010). To assess whether differences in affective learning and cognitive learning exist based on the method by which students are assigned to classroom work groups, the following research question is posed: RQ3: Will students who belong to self-selected classroom work groups report more affective learning and cognitive learning than students who belong to randomly assigned classroom work groups?…”

The Student Experience In Speed Teaming: A New Approach To Team Formation

“…Although traditionally some researchers have recommended that faculty assign students to teams (Feichtner & Davis, 1985;Michaelsen, 1994;Muller, 1989;Proll, 1972), Connerley and Mael (2001) (similarly Smith, Adams, Mendelson, & Sibeck, n.d.) report that this procedure is unpopular with students, while other researchers recommend student-selection because it may lead to better cohesion and less conflict (Koppenhaver & Shrader, 2003;Latting & Raffoul, 1991;Strong & Anderson, 1990) and more ownership (Mello, 1993), and thus fewer problems (Pfaff & Huddleston, 2003) and a better a better team experience (Bacon, Stewart, & Silver, 1999;Ettington & Camp, 2002). Both team formation methods, though, present problems.…”

Enhancing Social Work Education Through Team-Based Learning

“…Problems that arise within group settings are well-documented and include issues of "social loafing" or "free ridership" in which one or more members contribute very little to the group but reap the benefits of other members' hard work, as well as situations in which one or two members dominate the group, controlling, inhibiting, or disregarding the contri-butions of other members (Feichtner & Davis, 1984;Garrett, 1998;Herreid, 1999;Jalajas & Sutton, 1984;Latting & Raffoul, 1991;Steiner et al, 1999). This raises issues of how to fairly assess each person's performance within the group, holding members accountable for their individual efforts, while also motivating them to work cooperatively and contribute to one another's learning.…”

“…Varying schedules that make it impossible for all members to meet together set the stage for the formation of subgroups and for one or more members to be marginalized in the team learning process (Fink, 2004;Latting & Raffoul, 1991).…”