Group Projects, Part 2: Let the students manage themselves!

If you read "Group Projects, Part 1: Let the students grade!", then you’re going to see an emerging theme: Let the students do things themselves!

This mantra extends crucially to day-to-day task management. We need to let students directly invest themselves into a group project, and that means handing over all the micromanaging that occurs in group projects, to them. You, the instructor, definitely don’t want to do this part. You want to teach; you don’t want to make sure whether Student A, Student F, and Student W are properly brainstorming and generating an outline with their respective groups, like an anxious parent. You have too many students. Even a small class (less than 20 students) will tax your ability to manage every task in any one class session.

Think of yourself as a coach. You can’t run a race for your track star or execute a seamless play for your volleyball team. You have to give them the skills so they can run the game, the meet, or, in this case, the project themselves. By doing so, you’re letting them develop collaborative and self-management skills that will last into their adulthood.

In project management (because this is essentially what you’re teaching them), you need to give them their Big Goal, the overall structure or timeline (I usually allot 2 weeks for a big project), and resources. I separate student project management into 3 time periods: the Initial/Day 1 stage, the Middle stage, and the Final/Last Day stage.

Initial/Day 1 Stage:

Prior to the first day of a group project, I normally have already prepped the students with a presentation on what the group project, Big Goal, final due date, and grading procedure will be. I typically do this a week or a couple of days in advance.

If you know your students really well and you have reasons - such as behavior management issues - to create the collaborative groups yourself, then this is the time to form the groups and have the group list ready for Day 1.

Otherwise, groups can be formed on Day 1, which I like to break down into 3 categories: Free Choice, Random Selection, Similarities/Differences.

“Free Choice” is exactly what it sounds like. You allow the students to choose for themselves. This option can result in uneven results though; it also creates cliques, which I’m not a fan of. But it’s quick, it’s easy, and it can (momentarily) make most students happy. If you already have a harmonious group of students, this option can work well.

“Random Selection” can occur in a number of ways, but basically, they all entail you assigning, in random fashion, numbers, letters, colors, animals, or whatever grouping category you want, to the students. I like counting off students and forming groups based on their numbers because it’s fast and basic, but it doesn’t really matter how you do it. Students don’t always love this option because it is random; their fate is left to the winds (or to the numbers, letters, etc.). It gets the job done though, if your goal is to ensure truly mixed groups. It’s especially helpful if the students don’t know each other well and are shy about approaching other students to form groups.

“Similarities/Differences” is my favorite way to form groups. It’s not as random as “Random Selection” and it’s most likely not going to generate pre-made cliques as with the “Free Choice” method. However, to do this well, you need time (at least a 1-hour class) if you want to do this in class or you’ll need to assign students a pre-grouping activity as homework. The grouping activity can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on what you do.

For example, I might ask the students to complete a free-writing activity aligned with the project’s Big Goal. In one recent group project, I asked the students to free write for 5 minutes on who, in their lives, they most admire and would like to have a long, free-ranging conversation with. After they completed the free write, I took their papers and quickly grouped them based on who they wrote about. There were groups formed around parents, grandparents, friends, mentors, etc. I then returned the free writes to each student and asked them to share their person with their newly-formed group. This turned out to be a successful way to create groups because the students bonded over their similarities and differences generated from the free write.

Either way, regardless of which grouping mechanism you use, I encourage you to set aside about 10-15 minutes for some type of group-bonding/rapport-building activity.

From there, I always use Day 1 as a time for the group to begin organizing themselves. Ideally, you have a 1-hour period for the students to complete these important Day 1 tasks:

1. Share Contact Information

2. Define and Assign tasks (defining tasks can be both an instructor-led and group-led task)

3. Brainstorming Activity

To help students hold each other accountable for completing these and future tasks, I use some type of shared project management site, so students (and you) can keep track of what everyone is doing and if they’re on task.

Some platforms that allow students to share and track their work:

A sample Google-based Gantt chart:

A sample group Padlet:

I prefer using Padlet because my department uses it widely, but the reality is this: regardless of the platform you choose, you’ll need to set aside 10-15 minutes of class time to instruct students on how to set up a functional workspace that they can use to track their collaborative work.

Once they start brainstorming on their project (which often comes naturally if they’ve already had a group-bonding activity of some kind), you can wander around to each group, check their group task sheets, and advise them on any tasks they might need to add.

The Middle Stage:

Allow either whole class periods or a portion of each class period to group work, so students have a chance to check in on each other, organize themselves, and finish tasks. This stage will depend on how much time you’ve allotted for whole project and what process-oriented tasks students need to complete.

Some middle-stage tasks I like to set for students:

*Completing independent research

*Completing rough drafts

*Completing revision drafts

Final/Last Day Stage:

This stage is about turning in polished, final-draft work.

In addition, if you’re asking for groups to perform or present their work, set aside however many class periods you need for groups to present/perform.

After groups have turned in their projects, set aside time (around 15 minutes of class time) for students to evaluate each other. If you want some tips on how to let students “grade” each other, take a look at my prior post “Group Projects, part 1: Let the students grade!.”

Final Thoughts:

Collaborative work of all types, but especially large projects, depend on group accountability. How can we guide students to be responsible to and for their groupmates? How can students outgrow their need for us, as micromanagers?

Of course, no set of resources or tools can guarantee that all students will participate in group work to generate amazing group projects. There will always be a group that doesn't gel or a project that fails. However, the larger goal shouldn't be about the end product. It should be about shifting the work of accountability to students. Doing so will expose them to real-world expectations and methods to increase group productivity, and that will make them that much more prepared for a professional career.