Directorate of Human Resources

Small groups

20 March November 2009

George Roberts

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Introduction

• Do you teach (or have you ever taught) small groups?

• Identify small-group teaching situations

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Small group teaching situations include:

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Small group teaching situations include:• 75 => 15 => pairs• on the wards• practicals • role play• field work• aggregate/disaggregate• seminars

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity

In pairs for about 3 minutes

• What are the most rewarding features of small group teaching?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Rewards of small-group teaching include:

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Rewards of small-group teaching include:• students can take risk• involvement• immediate feedback• levelling of relationship/informality• students can be responsible/no hiding • opportunity for f2f interaction, everyone has a voice• diagnostic• equal opportunity to have a go• space to think and give an opinion, explore own thinking and ideas• get to know students better• motivation, works two ways• encouragement can build confidence• co-construction of group knowledge & identity• student-centred/led learning

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Small Group Structures

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Rounds• Encourages

everybody to contribute

• Circle• Trigger sentence

‘a question I would like answered today is … ‘each person takes it in turn to offer a short comment

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Buzz groups

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Circular interviewing• Each person takes it

in turn to interview the person opposite them in the circle

• The role of interviewer and interviewee is passed round the circle until everybody has had a turn at each role

• ‘what have you read ..’

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Fish Bowl• Members in

the inner circle are involved in discussion /role-play/ group activity

• Members on the outside have the role of observer

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Other Small Group Structures

How else can you organise small groups?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity

double pairs (= 4) for about 3 minutes

• What are the environments in which small group teaching takes place?

• How do time scales affect small group work?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

What are the environments for small group teaching?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

What are the environments and time scales for small group teaching?• seminar• lecture theatre• online• small room with moveable furniture• construction site• breakout rooms• canteens• work sites• laboratories• art room• Barcelona• office• book shops• malls• library• reinvention centre/ASKE building• conference centre

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

How do time scales affect small group work?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

How do time scales affect small group work?• initial awkwardness, students need clear briefs• time needs to be managed• staff schedules may constrain small group activity• tasks might go from 2 min to 30 min

• or over a semester!• or as long as it takes

• different groups work at different speeds• time it takes depends on the aim/outcome intended• needs time built in for sharing/feedback/hearing others• groups may persist longer than the tasks they do

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity

Back in your fours for about 3 minutes

• What were the differences between pairs and fours?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Differences between pairs and fours include:

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Differences between pairs and fours include:• pairs reinforce ideas, larger groups get diversity of ideas• allocate roles• in fours people can hide, pairs force interaction• bigger group more hiding possibilitie• roles emerge, leader, spokesperson, domination and submission• group dynamic becomes foregrounded: teachers need to know

when students need help with role emergence• role differentiation becomes important• bigger group may force consensus; can this be damaging?• sub-groups emerge

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

With thanks to http://www.sweetmarias.com/articles.shtml

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Groups

A gathering of people is a group• when its members are collectively conscious of their

existence as a group; • when they believe it satisfies their needs; • when they share aims, are interdependent, like to join

in group activities, and want to remain with the group.

Though groups occur in many forms and sizes, there seems to be a set of characteristics fairly common to them all.

From: Small group teaching by David Jaques http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/small-group/index.html

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Characteristics of groups

• A definable membership• Group consciousness• A sense of shared purpose• Interdependence• Interaction• Ability to work as a single unit

John Adair 1989 ‘Effective team building’ London, Gower

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Roles

• Task-based roles

• Personal attributes, styles and preferences

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Group (team) roles

• “A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way” (Belbin)

• Everybody has a preferred role• People are likely to take on more than one role• team roles are not personality types; they are clusters of

characteristics,

• Role orientation• Action

• shaper, implementer, completer finisher• People

• chair/co-ordinator, teamworker, resource investigator• Cerebral

• plant, monitor/evaluator, specialist

• General group roles• Group building & maintenance• Group task

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Belbin: Team Roles

• Plant• Resource Investigator• Co-ordinator• Shaper• Monitor-Evaluator• Teamworker• Implementer• Completer-Finisher• Specialist

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Good education practice

1.encourage student-tutor contact2.encourage student-student co-operation3.encourage active learning4.give prompt feedback5.emphasise time on task6.have and communicate high expectations7. respect diverse talents and ways of learning

(Chickering & Gamson, 1987)

independent of the mode of engagement

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity

Self organise

• Four groups• As near as possible along discipline

lines• Identify the common features of

your disciplinarity

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Identify groups and common features

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Identify groups and common features• Odds & sods: Business & technology, arts, professional

• common features• skills as well as theory• applied theory

• Humanities• text based subjects• not factual but negotiable• study social relationships past present and future• ability to detach oneself from the field of study

• Science, the ‘ologists’quantification and measurementtheory-based / evidence-basedfalsifiablepredictivecritical thinking

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity (simulation)

• In your groups develop a short group learning activity

• relevant to your discipline

• prepare a presentation of this activity using the flip chart paper

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Design for Learning

Background reading

Individual task

Group taskPlenary

Follow through

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Design for Learning

(distribute) background reading

Individual task: write one sample

examination question and

explain why this is a good question.

Post to discussion area

Plenary: presentation by groups

Follow through: collate and distribute all questions & criteria

Framing: final examination will be composed of your questions

Group task Evaluate

Critique on discussion board

Compile sample examination paper

and post

Produce assessment criteria

For n Groups

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Plan

Activity

• Form groups• In groups

• Identify topic• Write objective(s)• Plan session

• Plenary• Present• Debrief

Brief overall

Brief groups

Group work

ObjectivesIdentify topicDetermine approach•Inductive•Deductive•Kolb position

PresentDebrief

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Aims of your session

• Agree your activity

then

• Using circular interview technique to ensure each person contributes

• Identify the aims of your session

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Activity (simulation)

• In your groups develop a short group learning activity

• relevant to your discipline

• prepare a presentation of this activity using the flip chart paper

20 minutes

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Feedback

Group presentations of outputs

• key points• …• …

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Why work in a group?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Summarising

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

“How do I know until I hear myself say it?”“Academic knowledge is articulated knowledge”

Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking University Teaching - a conversational framework for the effective use of educational technology. London, RoutledgeFarmer.

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

“Constructivism has at its heart the view that individual students construct or build their own knowledge and understanding rather than simply acquiring it pre-packaged and ready-made. The knowledge that they build will depend on several factors including what they are formally taught…the culture of their discipline”

Phillips, D.C. (2000) Constructivism in Education The National Society for the Study of Education, Chicago

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Factors to consider

• Group size• Preparing learners• Structure of groups & communication

patterns• Learning environment

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Ground rules

• Implicit ground rules in every social situation

• Individuals will come with their own assumptions

• Make ground rules explicit for group

• Rules will help the group to be effective & reduce conflict

Rules!

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Terms of reference

• What is the purpose to the group?• What are the expected outcomes from the group?• Is the group work assessed? How? Criteria?• What are the main components of the project?• What are the deadlines?• Are there any guidelines?• Are you suppose to do it on your own?• Do all group members share the same understanding of

the above?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Consider

• Communication• Social• Decision making• Roles & responsibility• Time management• Task management • Managing group processes• Commitment

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Learning environment

Physical and virtual arrangements have a powerful effect on interaction

• Lecturer is standing or sitting• Distance between lecturer and group• Position in a group is important:

Sitting nervous students opposite sympathetic tutor or encouraging peerA dominating student can be quietened by being seated immediately next to the tutor (Griffths & Partington 1992)

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Effective groups

• Contain a balanced range of members whose strengths complement each other

• Are not small or too large• Members take time to form a ‘group’• Members are clear about their own role and that of

others• Members understand and abide by a set of mutually

agreed ground rules• Share out the tasks fairly• Are organised & self disciplined• Tackle problems within the group effectively

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Teacher Behaviours

• Teachers’ style and approach influences the approach taken by the learner

• Students taught by teachers with a Student Focussed approach characteristically take a deep approach to their learning - attempting to make sense of the content of their course (Sheppard and Gilbert, 1991).

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Thank you