Setting Up Groups

Do your students have prior experience
of group work?

Students may not have experienced effective group work before coming to university. Finding out about students' prior experience and approach to group work allows you to build on their experience and scaffold them into effective group work. Before they participate in group activities, introduce your students to skills such as handling group dynamics, recognising what makes an effective group, working in multicultural teams, developing good team presentation skills and peer assessment strategies.

Begin by asking them to share their prior experience of group work. Ask students who have worked in groups before to share their experience. What did they like? What didn't they?

The following discussion or written exercise may help students reflect on how they operate when in groups. Even students who have not experienced group learning activities in the classroom may have had some experience of group or team activities, e.g. in a sports team, a music or drama group.

Student exercise

What is the optimal size for groups?

The size of student groups should be appropriate for the specific learning outcome, project or task. For example, if you would like your students to experience an authentic group task or project (e.g. a collaborative design project in Engineering, a group exhibition in Fine Arts, or a group research project in Science), create group sizes that are comparable with those that would be used in the real world. This will give students the chance to address the types of issues that might occur in a professional context, and help them build the skills necessary to perform effectively in a group of a realistic size.

If students have limited prior experience of group work, groups of between 3 or 4 people are likely to work best. For students with more experience, groups of 4 to 6 might be more appropriate. It is important that group composition allows for some diversity within groups and is appropriate in terms of project management. Large groups can make it difficult for students to arrange meeting times outside class, and to keep track of individual contributions.

If you want to allow students to form their own groups, you can use the following handout to guide the process.

Student handout 1

What are my options in terms of forming groups?

Option 1—Assign students to groups

Approaches to determining group membership vary. Teaching staff often prefer to assign students to groups rather than allowing them to self-select because it allows them to create groups with diverse skill sets. Groups with a mix of gender, age, culture, domestic and international students provides a rich learning environment and allows students to draw on a range of different experiences and perspectives. It is important to allow sufficient class time to assign students to groups.

Assigning students to groups helps to avoid ‘cliques’ or other groupings that might interfere with the groups’ project. If students are not happy being assigned to groups, it might be helpful to explain that they will not always be able to choose their group members in the workplace, and that learning to work effectively with a diverse group is an important skill in their profession.

Option 2—Use a random method of assigning groups

If you don’t feel comfortable assigning students to groups, you may wish to distribute coloured or numbered cards to students and ask students with the same colour or number to form a group. Once again, it is important to allow sufficient class time to this activity. Note that randomly assigning students to groups will not necessarily equip groups with the range of skills necessary to succeed with the assigned group work or the intended group diversity.

Option 3—Let students choose their own groups

There may be situations where it is preferable to let students choose their own groups e.g. if you would like groups to consist of students who are interested in the same topic, have mutual goals or students with compatible timetables. In such cases, you might like to use an ice-breaker or activity to help students discover which of their class members they might like to work with. As suggested above however, this can often result in students forming groups with friends only, and students may not benefit from the diversity of experiences that their peers have to offer. If you decide to let students choose their own groups, the following handout might be useful.

Student handout 2