Student Complaints - Why do many students dislike teams?
Despite the many benefits of team work, many students are very resistant to them. Here are some reasons why, and ways you can help students with these issues.
A. Students do not know what to expect.
Teamwork, especially for coursework, may not be an environment many students are familiar with. Teamwork requires some special skills, especially in the areas of negotiation and communication.
Giving students some instruction in these communication skills could help students better understand what to do.
B. Decisions do take more time
Unlike individual work where a student can quickly decide then implement a course of action, team work needs consensus from a group, all of whom may have different view points.
The payoff though is that the group can review different options, have different eyes look for potential pitfalls, then choose a solution which incorporates the best features proposed.
C. There are disagreements
Putting together groups of people with different ideas will inevitably lead to disagreements and conflict. However, most students are not comfortable with handling disagreement, especially without "adult supervision."
One way to help students is to emphasize that some disagreement in teams is normal and actually productive. Another is to suggest tips to resolve disagreements in a structured manner.
D. Not all students fully participate
There are, unfortunately, students who do not attend meetings, miss deadlines, never participate and do not get in touch with other team members, leaving all the other team members to carry the slack. It is important to set up some sort of accountability for team participation
Many experts suggest using some sort of assessment system where a portion of each student's grade comes from ratings given by other team members (Michaelson, 1999). Research has found that students are very objective when rating their team mates. They do not "collude" to assign everyone a good rating, nor so they unduly punish team mates they may not personally like.
Another strategy is to review meeting notes, either through individual journals or from a collective report submitted by the team. A third strategy is to always hold team meetings during class time. This avoids any "scheduling" problems students may have.
E. Scheduling conflicts
Although students are expected to work outside of class, teamwork adds the burden that students must be free outside of class at the same time.
This is another reason why some experts suggest holding some or all meetings during regular class hours (Michaelson 1999). A minimum of allowing group time in class at least once a week is advised.
TECH TIP: Providing a electronic discussion forum, such as in the Penn State ANGEL Course Management System can also provide another means for students to easily communicate with each other outside of class.
F. Tension of individual versus group accountability
Students are very anxious about being in a situation where their individual grade (and hence their G.P.A.) depends on the performance of other people.
It is recommended that grading for a team project consists of an individual grade and a team grade. Also emphasize that the ability to work together is part of what the individual grade will be based on, much as taking an exam would be.
Finally, it is good practice to be available for consultation if a team or student reports that a team member is not contributing.
References
See the Links Page for additional online pages on teams.
Breslow, Lori. (1998) "Teaching Teamwork Skills, Part 1"
http://web.mit.edu/tll/tll-library/teach-talk/teamwork-1.html
Breslow, Lori. (1998) "Teaching Teamwork Skills, Part 2"
http://web.mit.edu/tll/tll-library/teach-talk/teamwork-2.html
Issacs, Geoff. (2000) "'Group Assessment' - Assessment of Students on Group-Based Tasks - Issues and Options" A Report for the Queensland Teaching and Learning Committee.
Michaelson, Larry K. (1999) "Myths And Methods In Successful Small Group Work." National Teaching and Leaning Forum, Vol. 8, #6
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