Working Groups: formation and roles

Members will be assigned to groups based on particular skills or experience, so that there is a range of those skills in each group.

Groups will stay together for the whole semester.

In the first 8 weeks, group activities will include brain-storming record-keeping and editorial activities:

• on Mondays, groups will brain-storm in problem-solving activities

• for 2 or 3 weeks of the first 8 weeks (the number depending on the number of groups), a working group will function as the "Reporting Group" which is responsible for taking notes on Monday, and compiling the weeks 'Monday Report'.

• on Wednesdays, after individuals have written the text test, the test will be discussed within Working Groups, and written by the Working Group

• on Wednesdays, groups may be asked to do some brain-storming or discussion around particular topics

• Working Groups will be responsible for critiquing individual Special Topics

• In March, new roles will be assigned in relation to building the Web site

A few suggestions:

• Keep a group record of tasks that require more work than others, and rotate such tasks around the group
• As individuals, try to contribute without dominating; if you notice that some individuals are reticent about participating, make a point of asking for their opinions in discussions
• Do an informal review every now and then of how the group is operating, e.g. ask "what's going well, and what isn't", and then discuss the difficulties and how to resolve them.
• If you have suggestions for successful interaction in groups (e.g. drawn from other experiences in groups), post them on the Banter Bulletin Board

• the Group Mark that individuals receive can count for 10-30% of the total for an individual
• The mark that individuals receive is the Group Mark mutiplied by a Peer Evaluation Factor - so it "pays" for the group to do well, it pays for individuals to do their share, and to be considerate of colleagues.
• 25% of the Group Mark is derived from the average mark that individuals receive for their Special Topics assignment; the Special Topics mark that individual receive on their own can account for 10-60% of the individual's total. An important role of the group is to give editorial feedback and creative suggestions on members' Special Topics. So individual efforts will be rewarded individually, and they also benefit the group, and the group gives important feedback to individuals.

The work load for groups outside of the classroom is pretty modest, so the individual's share of group workload is not something to be nervous about. On the other hand, you don't want to miss classes without a good explanation for your colleagues!