group assignment means

How Do I Facilitate Effective Group Work?

Successful group work is characterized by trust, psychological safety, clarity of expectations, and good communication; being in the same location while working is not essential to group effectiveness (Duhigg, 2016; Kelly, 2008; Salmons, 2019). Below we offer strategies and examples that work for short-term collaborative group work (e.g., discussions in an online, hybrid/flexible, or in-person class) and long-term collaborative assignments (e.g., group projects), ending with additional considerations for long-term collaborative work.

STRATEGIES & EXAMPLES

Provide opportunities to develop connection and trust.

Engage students with community building activities.  Groups work best when students feel connected and trust each other. Brief  icebreaker activities  are fun and allow students to get to know each other before delving into group work. If using a video conferencing platform such as Zoom or Echo360, ask students to type a word or emoji about how they are doing into the chat, or during in-person classes students can share this orally or via an audience response system. Let students practice group work in  Moodle  or  Blackboard  with some low-stakes group assignments.

Create group norms.  In the first few weeks of class, create participation norms that all students agree upon as a class or within their small groups. Discuss with students how certain social identities (e.g., women in STEM, transgender students) can be unintentionally marginalized during group work as a justification for creating norms around respectful and inclusive communication (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004). Vary the groupings of students so that students can meet other students and hear different perspectives, particularly in the first weeks of class. Refer back to the agreed-upon norms when conflict arises.

Proactively check in with groups.  It’s important to pay attention to both process and the accomplished task. As you drop into groups during class time or consult with groups in office hours, note who does and does not speak; consider asking questions about process such as who is generating ideas and how they know everyone is on board with these ideas. Check in individually with quieter students. Remember, how you address group functioning models how they should interact with each other (Kelly, 2008).

(Over)communicate and Reinforce Expectations

Communicate the purpose.  Communicate in writing and orally the skills students will develop by the end of their group work experience and why this is a valuable task or project to do in groups (as opposed to individually). You might ask students to connect skills they will learn to their personal goals and describe how they will know if they’ve developed these skills apart from your feedback.

Describe the tasks.  In writing, describe the tasks in detail, including steps in the process with due dates/deadlines, resources needed, technology for communication, and expectations for group work. This means giving students clear topics, questions, deliverables, or goals for group work. Consider assigning rotating task roles such as discussion director, connector, summarizer, recorder, and reporter (Kennedy & Nilson, 2008). Create a space online for students to submit questions which are publicly answered for all to see; this can become an  FAQ forum . At the end of group work, have groups submit something that demonstrates their engagement with the task for a small amount of points, such as group decisions, remaining questions, or discussion notes.

Clarify the criteria.  Communicate specific details about how student work generated in groups will be assessed (i.e., rubrics, exemplars, grading scheme). Use positive, “do this” language rather than negative, “don’t do this” language when possible. Show examples that typify important or challenging aspects of the work with narrations (i.e., on video or in a commented document) of what makes the work exemplar.

Additional Tips for Long-term Collaborative Projects

Be sure students have a communication plan.  This can be specified as part of their group norms and processes at the beginning of the project. In addition, be clear how and when groups should communicate with you, where and in what format they should submit materials, and what to do if they encounter a problem.

Break apart the project into phases or milestones with clear deliverables at each stage.  Clearly specify how and where students should turn in work (i.e., online or in person), and use this format consistently for all deliverables.

Have students periodically check in about their group process and report back on their process.  At the beginning of the project, ask students to identify how they want to work together, what their expectations are for each other, and what collaborative tools the group wants to use. Have them post their group norms in an online forum. Include a requirement for a  "team effectiveness discussion"  or evaluation (self or peer) after students have some time to work together (e.g., 2nd milestone; See  Oakley et al. 2004  for a “Crisis Clinic” guide). Allow them to adjust norms and set goals for the next phase of group work.

Clearly connect homework, lectures, or other learning activities to the group project.  For example, after learning new concepts, students might be asked to turn in a brief “Application memo” which connects course content to their group project. An online session might end with an “Integrate it” discussion among group members to integrate new learning into their project. Homework might be called “Project Prep.” Name activities by their purpose so that students see the relevance and utility of each activity more easily.

Foster cross-group peer review.  Students will appreciate hearing what other groups are doing and can get ideas for their own projects. For example, have students share their milestones or group work with another group and have them record questions and feedback in a collaborative document. Review that document to provide feedback to the entire class, saving you from giving feedback to each group. Peer review can also be done as a workshop or group assignment activity in the LMS. 

Please contact the CTL with any questions or for more details about the examples shared at  [email protected] . For support with collaborative technology, email  [email protected] .

For questions on your LMS, Google, and other educational technology contact IDEAS at [email protected]

Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25).  What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team . The New York Times.

Kelly, R. (2008, August 11).  Creating trust in online education ,  Faculty Focus.

Kennedy, F. A., and Nilson, L. B. (2008).  Successful strategies for teams. Team Member Handbook .  Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University.

Oakley, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R., & Elhajj, I. (2004).  Turning student groups into effective teams .  Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2 (1), pp. 9-34.

Salmons, J. (2019).  Learning to collaborate, collaborating to learn: Engaging students in the classroom and online . Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Image by Armin Rimoldi for Pexels.

RELATED TOPICS

How Do I Increase Student Engagement with Participation Agreements?

Students engage and participate when there is a class climate in which they feel safe, supported, and encouraged to express their thoughts, values, experiences, and perspectives.

How Do I Use Note Catchers to Support Group Work and Collaborative Note Taking?

Note catchers, shared collaborative documents accessed in real time, keep students focused and help you monitor online or in-person group work.

How Do I Navigate Hot Moments in the Classroom?

Strategies for navigating and managing yourself during hot moments during class discussions, and helping students process conflict.

How Do I Support Students with Compassion and Empathy?

Faculty can support student learning by designing courses to include compassion, communicating often, and connecting students to wellbeing resources on campus.

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• Group work: Goals, roles, and ground rules

Group work: Goals, roles, & ground rules

You've been given your assignment and have your group members in place. Your next step is to set up your group's goals, roles, and ground rules to make the most of your time working together. Taking a few minutes at the start of your assignment to cover this will often proactively address any issues that may arise during group projects. 

Let's look into each of these a bit more:

Ground Rules

Use our downloadable Group Work Roadmap [ .doc / .pdf ]  to take the guesswork out of this process.

Group Goals

In this first step, you are ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding what mark you want for your project, what date you will submit your project, and determining your specific project topic or focus if given choice in your assignment.

Know from day one if your group is aiming for a final grade in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Also, discuss if this mark is one you can comfortably achieve or if it is one you will strive for. This will help set both the tone for the group and the expectation for submissions.

As a group, collectively decide on a date for final review and submission. As you will have many people working on many parts try to build in time for group reviews of the final draft of a project well ahead of the required due date. This will allow time for additions or upgraded work ahead of the due date.

As a group, discuss the project's outline and be sure to come to a consensus about what is expected. Brainstorm and discuss topics if your professor allows self-selection. This will set your group up for drafting task assignments and ensuring everyone is working toward a common goal.

Group Roles

Now that your group has established the "what" of the project, you need to consider the "who" and the "when".

Each member should have an equal amount of tasks they will carry from the group's workload. This does not necessarily mean an equal number of tasks across all members as some tasks may be very large and others very small. As a group, look at your assignment and begin to break down the project into various tasks.

Once all tasks are written out, have each member indicate if there are any particular tasks they are best equipped for or are interested in doing. For tasks which remain after this initial selection process begin to delegate these out in an equitable fashion. This can be done through another round of self-selection, random draw, or any number of processes. Review again the overall workload being tasked to each member - does the amount of time and effort seem equal? Finally, collectively create a schedule of mini-deadlines each task must be drafted, reviewed, and submitted within the overall timeline of the project. 

Another role to be considered is that of the draft reviewer. Each member's tasks should be shared with another member once a final draft has been created. This review period should allow time for feedback and for the draft creator to be able to implement any changes agreed upon.

Ground rules for groups cover the details which push your progress along and create fair communication & conflict expectations. Again, using our Group Work Roadmap resource will help navigate many of the ground rules needed to be covered. Considerations include meetings, attendance, communication, and conflict.

• Revisit the date chosen for the final draft submission review by the group and set a tentative date to all meet and discuss.
• Reviewing the mini-deadlines, or your own class schedules, establish meeting dates throughout the project's timeline to meet together as a group. This could be weekly, biweekly, or staggered dates throughout.
• Determine how long these meetings will be scheduled to last.
• Determine where meetings will take place; it doesn't have to be the same place every time.  If meeting online, determine what tool you will use and try to pick one that everyone is comfortable with using.
• Determine the proper process for notifying the group if you will miss a meeting.
• Determine the plan of action if there is a member who continues to miss or be late for meetings.
• Determine how an emergency meeting will be requested/announced.
• Communication
• What will be the primary platform for asynchronous group communication? (e.g. email? an instant messaging system?)
• What will be the primary platform for asynchronous individual communication (e.g. sending drafts or reviews of drafts)?
• Review and agree to use  healthy communication dynamics .
• Determine how information from meetings will be shared with members who were unavoidably absent.
• Discuss how the group will provide constructive feedback to members for absent, subpar, or low-effort submissions.
• Discuss the escalation process that will be followed in determining when to alert your instructor of a failing group member.
• Discuss how the group will respectfully get back on task when a group member(s) are off-topic, coopting too much time/energy of a meeting, or have become too fixated on an individual issue that is not impacting the group.

"Setting Expectations & Ground Rules" [Algonquin College Library; YouTube]

Whether big or small, using our Group Work Roadmap  can help give a physical space for your group to document many of the choices made concerning goals, roles, and ground rules. Taking a couple of minutes to complete this at the start of your project will give everyone a clear path to navigate and clear expectations of them by the group. The more transparent these factors are, the less likely you are to encounter misunderstanding-based conflicts.

Algonquin College of Applied Arts & Technologies. (2021, June 3). Essential study skills: Group work . Algonquin College of Applied Arts & Technologies: Student Support Services. https://algonquincollege.libguides.com/studyskills/group-work

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). Sample group project tools: team contract template . Carnegie Mellon University: Eberly Center. Retrieved March 9, 2022 from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/tools/TeamContracts/teamcontracttemplate.docx

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). What are the challenges of group work and how can I address them ? Carnegie Mellon University: Eberly Center. Retrieved March 9, 2022 from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/challenges.html

Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, June 9). Four common types of team conflict and how to resolve them . Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/types-of-team-conflict

La Trobe University. (2020, September 18). Common types of group conflicts and how to resolve them . La Trobe University. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/mylatrobe/common-types-of-group-conflicts-and-how-to-resolve-them/

Levin, P., and Kent, I. (2001). Draft manual on teamwork tutoring: 28 questions and answers for academics on teamwork in universities .

Oregon State University. (n.d.). Team work makes the dream work: make your group project awesome like a blessing of unicorns. Oregon State University: Academic Success Center. Retrieved March 9, 2022 from https://success.oregonstate.edu/sites/success.oregonstate.edu/files/LearningCorner/Tools/4-page_twdw_-_fill_-_20.pdf

University of British Columbia. (n.d.). Resolving conflict. University of British Columbia: Chapman Learning Commons. Retrieved March 11, 2022 from https://learningcommons.ubc.ca/student-toolkits/working-in-groups/resolving-conflict/.

University of Waterloo. (n.d.). Teamwork skills: Being an effective group member . University of Waterloo: Centre for Teaching Excellence. Retrieved March 9, 2022 from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/tips-students/being-part-team/teamwork-skills-being-effective-group-member

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Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what are best practices for designing group projects.

What is true for individual assignments holds true for group assignments: it is important to clearly articulate your objectives, explicitly define the task, clarify your expectations, model high-quality work, and communicate performance criteria.

But group work has complexities above and beyond individual work. To ensure a positive outcome, try some of these effective practices (adapted from Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 1991) or come talk to us at the Eberly Center.

Create interdependence

Devote time specifically to teamwork skills, build in individual accountability.

While some instructors don’t mind if students divvy up tasks and work separately, others expect a higher degree of collaboration. If collaboration is your goal, structure the project so that students are dependent on one another. Here are a few ways to create interdependence:

Don’t assume students already know how to work in groups! While most students have worked on group projects before, they still may not have developed effective teamwork skills. By the same token, the teamwork skills they learned in one context (say on a soccer team or in a theatrical production) may not be directly applicable to another (e.g., a design project involving an external client.)

To work successfully in groups, students need to learn how to work with others to do things they might only know how to do individually, for example to...

• assess the nature and difficulty of a task
• break the task down into steps or stages
• plan a strategy
• manage time

Students also need to know how to handle issues that only arise in groups, for example, to:

• explain their ideas to others
• listen to alternative ideas and perspectives
• reach consensus
• delegate responsibilities
• coordinate efforts
• resolve conflicts
• integrate the contributions of multiple team members

Here are a few things you can do both to help students develop these skills and to see their value in professional life.

It is possible for a student to work hard in a group and yet fail to understand crucial aspects of the project. In order to gauge whether individual students have met your criteria for understanding and mastery, it is important to structure individual accountability into your group work assignments.

In other words, in addition to evaluating the work of the group as a whole, ask individual group members to demonstrate their learning via quizzes, independent write-ups, weekly journal entries, etc. Not only does this help you monitor student learning, it helps to prevent the “free-rider” phenomenon. Students are considerably less likely to leave all the work to more responsible classmates if they know their individual performance will affect their grade.

To create individual accountability, some instructors combine a group project with an individual quiz on relevant material. Others base part of the total project grade on a group product (e.g., report, presentation, design, paper) and part on an individual submission . The individual portion might consist of a summary of the group’s decision-making process, a synthesis of lessons learned, a description of the individual student’s contributions to the group, etc.

One statistics instructor assigns student groups the task of presenting, synthesizing, and evaluating a set of articles on a particular topic. It is important to him that every group member have a firm grasp of the complete set of readings, even if they individually only present one or two. Thus, he builds individual accountability into the project by warning students in advance that he will ask each of them questions about the readings they did not present. This helps to ensure that students read the full set of articles, and not just the readings they present.

Barkley, E.F., Cross, K.P., and Major, C.H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (1998). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Thompson, L.L. (2004). Making the team: A guide for managers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

A group project is a cooperative learning assignment that requires students to work with peer group members to plan, discuss, and complete a specific project, often over the course of an entire semester. The project can be a research paper, an in-class oral presentation, an out-of-class study project, or research contributed as part of a larger class project involving multiple student groups . The purpose is to prepare students to work collaboratively in order to develop the intellectual and social skills needed to examine research problems from a variety of perspectives, to communicate effectively with their peers, and to evaluate and resolve issues on their own with support from other group members.

Burke, Alison. “Group Work: How to Use Groups Effectively.” The Journal of Effective Teaching 11 (2011): 87-95; Colbeck, Carol L., Susan E. Campbell, and Stefani A. Bjorklund. “Grouping in the Dark: What College Students Learn from Group Projects.” The Journal of Higher Education 71 (January - February, 2000): 60-83; Using Group Projects Effectively. Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University; Williams, Katherine. Group Work Benefits and Examples. Study.com.

Benefits of Group Work

As stressful as it can be, group work can actually be beneficial in the long run because it closely parallels the dynamics of serving on a committee, participating in a task force, or working on a collaborative project found in most professional workplace settings. Whatever form the group assignment takes in your course, the opportunity to work with others, rather than on your own, can provide distinct benefits. These include:

• Increased productivity and performance -- groups that work well together can achieve much more than individuals working on their own. A broader range of skills can be applied to practical activities and the process of sharing and discussing ideas can play a pivotal role in deepening your understanding of the research problem. This process also enhances opportunities for applying strategies of critical inquiry and creative or radical problem-solving to an issue.
• Skills development -- being part of a team will help you develop your interpersonal skills. This can include expressing your ideas clearly, listening carefully to others, participating effectively in group deliberations, and clearly articulating to group members t he results of your research . Group work can also help develop collaborative skills, such as, team-based leadership and effectively motivating others. These skills will be useful throughout your academic career and all are highly sought after by employers.
• Knowing more about yourself -- working with others will help identify your own strengths and weaknesses in a collaborative context. For example, you may be a better leader than listener, or, you might be good at coming up with the 'big idea' but not so good at developing a specific plan of action. Enhanced self-awareness about the challenges you may have in working with others will enhance overall learning experiences. Here again, this sense about yourself will be invaluable when you enter the workforce.

Colbeck, Carol L., Susan E. Campbell, and Stefani A. Bjorklund. “Grouping in the Dark: What College Students Learn from Group Projects.” The Journal of Higher Education 71 (January - February, 2000): 60-83; Collaborative Learning/Learning with Peers. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Golde, Chris M. Tips for Successful Writing Groups. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presented November, 1994; Updated November, 1996 at Association for the Study of Higher Education; Howard, Rebecca Moore. "Collaborative Pedagogy." In Composition Pedagogies: A Bibliographic Guide . Gary Tate, Amy Rupiper, and Kurt Schick, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 54-71; Thom, Michael. "Are Group Assignments Effective Pedagogy or a Waste of Time? A Review of the Literature and Implications for Practice." Teaching Public Administration 38 (2020): 257-269;

Stages of Group Work

I.  Getting Started

To ensure that your group gets off to a good start, it may be beneficial to:

• Take time for all members to introduce themselves, including name, background, and stating specific strengths in contributing to the overall goals of the assignment.
• Nominate or vote to have someone act as the group leader or facilitator or scheduler. If the burden might be too great, consider deciding to rotate this responsibility among all group members.
• Exchange current contact information, such as, email addresses, social media information, and cell phone numbers.
• Consider creating an online workspace account to facilitate discussions, editing documents, sharing files, exchanging ideas, and to manage a group calendar. There are many free online platforms available for this type of work such as Google docs.

II.  Discussing Goals and Tasks

After you and the other members of the group agree about how to approach the assignment, take time to make sure everyone understands what it is they will need to achieve. Consider the following:

• What are the goals of the assignment? Develop a shared understanding of the assignment's expected learning outcomes to ensure that everyone knows what their role is supposed to be within the group.
• Note when the assignment is due [or when each part is due] so that everyone is on the same schedule and any potential conflicts with assignment due dates in other classes can be addressed ahead of time by each members of the group.
• Discuss how you are going to specifically meet the requirements of the assignment. For example, if the assignment is to write a sample research grant, what topic are you going to research and what organizations would you solicit funding from?
• If your professor allows considerable flexibility in pursuing the goals of the assignment, it often helps to brainstorm a number of ideas and then assess the merits of each one separately. As a group, reflect upon the following questions: How much do you know about this topic already? Is the topic interesting to everyone? If it is not interesting to some, they may not be motivated to work as hard as they might on a topic they found interesting. Can you do a good job on this topic in the available time? With the available people? With the available resources? How easy or hard would it be to obtain good information on the topic? [ NOTE:   Consult with a librarian before assuming that information may be too difficult to find!].

III.  Planning and Preparation

This is the stage when your group should plan exactly what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and determine who should do what. Pay attention to the following:

• Work together to break the project up into separate tasks and decide on the tasks or sub-tasks each member is responsible for. Make sure that work is equally distributed among each member of the group.
• Agree on the due-dates for completing each task, keeping in mind that members will need time to review any draft documents and the group must have time at the end to pull everything together.
• Develop mechanisms for keeping in touch, meeting periodically, and the preferred methods for sharing information. Discuss and identify any potential stumbling blocks that may arise that could hinder your work [e.g., mid-terms].

NOTE:   Try to achieve steps 1, 2, and 3 in a group meeting that is scheduled as soon as possible after you have received the assignment and your group has been formed. The sooner these preliminary tasks are agreed upon, the sooner each group member can focus on their particular responsibilities.

IV.  Implementation

While each member carries out their individual tasks, it is important to preserve your group's focus and sense of purpose. Effective communication is vital, particularly when your group activity extends over an extended period of time. Here are some tips to promote good communication:

• Keep in touch with each other frequently, reporting progress regularly. When the group meets for the first time, think about about setting up a regular day and time for people to report on their progress [either in-person or online].
• If someone is having trouble completing his or her area of responsibility, work with that person to figure out how to solve the problem. Be supportive and helpful, but don't offer to do other people's work.
• At the same time, make it clear that the group is depending on everyone to do their part; all group members should agree that it is detrimental to everyone in the group for one person to show up at the last minute without his or her work done.

V.  Finishing Up

Be sure to leave enough time to put all the pieces together before the group project is due and to make sure nothing has been forgotten [e.g., someone forgot to correct a chart or a page is missing]. Synthesizing each group member's work usually requires some negotiation and, collectively, overcoming any existing obstacles towards completion. Technically, this can be done online, but it is better to meet in person to ensure that everyone is actively involved in the process.

If your group has to give a presentation about the results of their research, go through the same process--decide who is going to do what and give everyone enough time to prepare and practice ahead of time [preferably together]. At this point before the assignment is due, it is vital to ensure that you pay particular attention to detail, tie up any loose ends, and review the research project together as a team rather than just looking over individual contributions.

VI.  Writing Up Your Project

Writing the group report can be challenging; it is critical that you leave enough time for this final stage. If your group decided to divide responsibility for drafting sections, you will need to nominate a member of the group [if not done so already] to bring everything together so that the narrative flows well and isn't disjointed. Make it their assignment rather than assigning that person to also write a section of the report. It is best to choose whomever in your group is the best writer because careful copy editing at this stage is essential to ensure that the final document is well organized and logically structured.

Focus on the following:

• Have all the writers in your group use the same writing style [e.g., verb tense, diction or word choice, tone, voice, etc.]?
• Are there smooth transitions between individual sections?
• Are the citations to sources, abbreviations, and non-textual elements [charts, graphs, tables, etc.] consistent?

Barkley, Elizabeth F., Claire Howell Major, and K. Patricia Cross. Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty . 2nd edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2014; Boud, David, Ruth Cohen, and Jane Sampson, editors. Peer Learning in Higher Education: Learning from and with Each Other . Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2001; Collaborative Learning/Learning with Peers. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Espey, Molly. "Enhancing Critical Thinking using Team-Based Learning." Higher Education Research and Development 37 (2018): 15-29; Howard, Rebecca Moore. "Collaborative Pedagogy." In Composition Pedagogies: A Bibliographic Guide . Gary Tate, Amy Rupiper, and Kurt Schick, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). 54-71; INDOT Group Work and Report Planning Handout. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Working in Groups. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra; Working in Groups. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Group Writing. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Golde, Chris M. Tips for Successful Writing Groups. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presented November, 1994; Updated November, 1996 at Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Meeting Places

Where Your Group Meets Matters!

Choosing where to you meet can have as much of an impact on your group's overall success as how well you communicate and work together. When your group is first formed, be sure to set aside some time to discuss and come to an agreement about where to meet in the future. Obviously, convenience has a lot to do with your possible choices. However, discussions of where to meet should also focus on identifying a space that's comfortable, easily accessible to everyone, and does not have any distractions, such as, the smell of food from nearby, heavy foot traffic, or constant noise,

Places that meet all of these conditions are the collaborative workrooms in the East Asian Library of Doheny or the group study spaces in the Lower Computer Commons of Leavey Library or on the second floor of Leavey Library. These rooms can seat anywhere from 4 to 10 people and all have dry erase boards and power and network connectivity. Most rooms also have large monitors with laptop connections that your group can use to display a presentation, document, spreadsheet, or other information that is the focus of your collaborative work. Note that these rooms are very popular, especially towards the end of the semester, so schedule early and be courteous in promptly cancelling your reservation so others may use the room. Finally, if everyone agrees that meeting in person is not crucial, a meeting to discuss the group's activities can be conducted over Zoom or other video conferencing platform.

Bilandzic, Mark and Marcus Foth. "Libraries as Coworking Spaces: Understanding User Motivations and Perceived Barriers to Social Learning," Library Hi Tech 31 (2013): 254-273.

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Group Learning

Who's doing this at UT?

UT instructors across many disciplines have used Team-Based Learning to teach content and team skills. Students gain an appreciation for how productive and energizing collaboration can be when group work is structured and managed well.

How Can I Do This?

Group learning goes by many different names (e.g., group work, cooperative learning, team learning, peer instruction, etc.) and spans the spectrum from two students solving a problem to a team working on a semester long project. For group learning to be effective, the students need to practice team building skills and learn to be accountable to their group as well as themselves.

Students have often had bad group work experiences, so it is important to explain to them and persuade them that working as a group has positive outcomes (see “Why is This Important?” below). Tell them how, in your class, working as a group will be a positive experience because you are going to help them learn how to do it well.

• Ask students to write down (individually) what they like and don’t like about group work, then get them to brainstorm (as a group) how the things they don’t like could be improved and things they do like enhanced.
• Give students time to brainstorm and agree on the qualities of an effective team mate.
• Highlight qualities like coming prepared to contribute, actively listening, taking turns talking, not interrupting, encouraging others, sharing resources, being open-minded, giving constructive feedback, compromising, showing respect, etc.
• Guide students to negotiate a group contract that they all sign.
• Ask students periodically to reflect on how well they are doing developing these skills.
• Require peer evaluations of the collaborative process as well as the product.
• Teach students how to criticize constructively and give effective feedback so other team members can grow and improve. Show them models of helpful vs. unhelpful feedback.
• Model these skills yourself and praise students who practice them.
• Emphasize the value of group work early and often.
• Learn more about Team Skills

For students to get the most out of group learning, they need to work cooperatively with the same group for a period of time to solve complex problems. Getting the “right” balance of people in teams is very important. Heterogeneous groups provide a mix of resources for better quality work and help students develop social skills and awareness of diversity. Heterogeneity may mean building groups consisting of people with different perspectives, talents, or identities such as technological abilities, different years in college, age, or family background. Your outcomes will help you prioritize the different qualities that are important in your groups.

• Groups can be different sizes, depending on the task. Scientific and mathematical problem solving groups are best small, around 3. Groups who brainstorm and benefit from a variety of perspectives need 4-6 students.
• Some instructors assign roles to students such as contributor, collaborator, communicator, challenger etc. If you do this make sure the roles change so each student gets a chance to develop each of these skills.
• Students should not form their own long-term groups. Doing this only reinforces existing cliques, encourages discussion of extracurricular activities and can influence peer performance evaluations.
• Ideal group duration depends on the task. Long term assignments build group loyalty but changing groups every few weeks means they get to work with and know more members of the class.
• Learn more about assigning roles

Finding or developing good group assignments is usually the most difficult part for instructors. The group task should make it clear to students that they have learned something, not just done something together. A good group learning opportunity demands higher-order thinking and collaboration that produces something better than they could have on their own.

• Assign groups a structured task that requires a specific deliverable at the end that shows outcomes have been met.
• Choose an assignment that lends itself to group work. The final product should not be 5 disparate monologues, but a synthesis of each of the parts to make a whole.
• Don’t ask students to write a traditional paper. You will find one person writes it, and then complains that no one else helped.
• Keep products focused (e.g., paragraphs, brief rationales, infographics, etc.) that show an analysis and evaluation of their work.
• Design the assignment so the whole group has buy-in to the final product, not just the one part they may have worked on.
• Expect the groups to approach problems in novel and interesting ways. Give them time to brainstorm at the beginning with each other as well as time to reflect on what they have learned at the end.
• Think carefully about group presentations at the end of the semester. What will the other students learn from them? How much “learning time” will they take up?

Group work is not new for most students, but successful group work might be. Working well together requires good management, both from you as the facilitator and from within the group. Not all students will know how to do this, so your investment into their development as productive collaborators will go a long way toward helping them learn.

• Give the students a clear purpose for the activity, state expectations, and emphasize the time line and check they are keeping to it.
• Try to keep most of the group work during class time.
• Students will have individual work to do, which they can do outside the classroom.
• Most disputes in group work revolve around meetings outside the classroom and can unfairly disadvantage nontraditional students or students who have jobs. Encourage virtual interaction in chat rooms or on discussion boards outside the classroom.
• With longer term assignments, help groups keep on track with formal, periodic reports both on product progress and on group dynamics.
• The space in your classroom may not be conducive to group work; however, students are far more flexible than we think. In a classroom with fixed row seating, get one group to sit in 2 rows, one behind the other, not in a straight line.
• Ask students to sit in their groups. This facilitates students moving fluidly into and out of group interaction.
• Most groups go through a natural cycle of getting to know each other and then having to work out some kinks while getting on the same page. Help the students navigate these phases.
• Learn more about stages of group development in Kennedy and Nilson p. 10-15

“Freeloading” is the thing that most students complain about when they are asked their thoughts about group work. Students have to learn group accountability as well as individual accountability, and therefore they need to be evaluated on both product (content) and process (team skills). To help students feel accountable for their team skills, ask students to do peer evaluations.

• Provide rubrics for assessing both content and team skills (e.g., qualities of a good team member could be taken from team contract drafted at the beginning of the semester).
• Do not grade on a curve -- this is cooperative learning not competitive learning.
• Students need frequent feedback on product and process if they are to improve, especially for large assignments.
• Feedback can be given by you, their group, other individuals, or other groups.
• To help students feel accountable for being prepared, give individual and group quizzes. Use the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (see below) as a fun way to get groups to come to consensus.
• See an example of a Teamwork Rubric

There are lots of ways to use group learning in your class. Choose the best times to incorporate group learning according to when it best serves the learning outcomes and your course goals and fits within your available time to prepare.

• Teamwork skills need time to be developed. So do teamwork training skills. Allow yourself and your students enough time to practice and grow into these roles.
• Experiment. Try one activity that incorporates group work in class at the beginning of the semester. Gradually build up to larger, module-long group work assignments.
• Not everything has to be done in groups. Like most teaching methods, group learning works best when it is used with a mix of other approaches, like interactive lectures, whole class discussions, and individual research.

Why Is This Important?

Teaching students to work effectively in groups will help them become more critical thinkers with deeper understanding about the content. It will also foster positive interpersonal relationships, help students feel more fulfilled, and prepare them for their chosen career. Group learning helps students:

Groups pool their knowledge and skills, which can often help them solve more complex problems or deliver better products than individuals alone can do.

• Articulating ideas through discussion and explanation can help students clarify and refine those ideas.
• Hearing others’ ideas can stimulate students' own thinking, particularly in the brainstorming period.
• Encountering and engaging others broadens students' perspectives to think of the world in a more diverse way (Smith et al., 2005).
• Group learning is more effective than traditional methods in improving critical thinking (Bransford et al., 2000).
• Working with a group teaches students how to hold each other accountable
• Having to sink or swim as a group helps develop new approaches to resolving differences and disagreements.
• Working with classmates from different ethnic and social backgrounds promotes inclusion and can foster empathy in students for those they come to better understand.
• A good group learning experience helps build academic self-confidence.
• Students develop their own voice and shape their perspectives in relation to peers.
• Well performing groups receive social support and encouragement to take risks.
• Group learning can increase students' responsibility for their own learning.
• Working together and interacting with peers during the learning process can be energizing and motivating.
• Students build positive connections with other students.
• Experiencing the high energy and deeper learning of students working in teams during class can be rewarding for instructors.
• Being able to work well on diverse teams is often cited as one of the most in-demand skills by employers.
• Group work helps students build stronger communication skills.
• Students learn to plan and manage time and become more responsible learners.
• Group problem solving teaches students how to reach consensus.
• As interdisciplinary knowledge becomes more common, students have to learn to work with different experts in the field. Experience with group learning prepares them for this.

Explore More

Group Work in the Classroom

The Centre for Teaching Excellence compiled a list of the types of small groups.

Least You Need to Know About Team-Based Learning

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Successful Strategies for Teams

The Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation developed techniques to help your teams work productively and successfully.

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How to teach using group assignments: the 7 step formula for fair and effective team assessment

2020, How to teach using group assignments: the 7 step formula for fair and effective team assessment

The benefits of collaborative learning have long been asserted. Group assignments have been deployed by teachers in higher education to realise several benefits such as enabling students to undertake more demanding academic challenges. However, there is debate about the validity and fairness of group assignments. Furthermore, educational and professional accreditation agencies increasingly view academic grades determined from group assignments with suspicion. Does this student deserve the academic qualification they have been awarded when a significant proportion of their academic credit has arisen from group work? What level of teamwork capabilities has this graduate actually demonstrated? Meanwhile, students often loathe the experience and prospect of group assignments. Fair-minded students wonder why the freeloaders and bullies in their team should get the same academic grade. Ambitious students wonder if they will receive recognition for the extra effort and leadership they have contributed. Perhaps they should prioritise their efforts elsewhere? Other students wonder how they could improve both their own and their teammates’ contribution to the teamwork and leadership processes required for success. Teacher assign students to groups and hope that their students will develop the teamwork capabilities students need for academic and professional success. To respond to these challenges teammate peer assessment is becoming recognized as contributing to fairer academic results and more valid assessments. Furthermore, when combined with timely peer feedback, students working on group assignments can adapt their behaviour to deliver better contributions and achieve better academic results for both their team and themself. Students also learn and demonstrate measured capabilities in teamwork, leadership, communication and project management that are valued by the workplace and professions, improve their success in future academic group assignments, and better prepare themselves for leadership roles within the fourth industrial revolution. This book is intended as a practical handbook and reference guide for - Teachers who wish to improve the validity and fairness of the group assignments they currently use with their students - Teachers who wish to introduce or redesign their group assignments in a manner that maximises the many benefits for students that can emerge from such assignments - Teachers who use contemporary teaching methods such as team-based learning and the flipped classroom who wish to improve their processes of teammate peer assessment and feedback - Teaching and learning advisors who wish to understand the factors relevant to supporting teachers in their use of group assignments and peer assessment - Programme and academic directors concerned with establishing academic policy for student group work and peer assessment. - Teaching and learning technologists who wish to understand the factors relevant to the implementation of digital platforms that support teachers’ and students’ adoption of teammate peer assessment - Institutional researchers who wish to use the results of teammate peer assessments in their institution to analyse issues such as student success, retention and failure

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Group work as a form of cooperative learning has been shown to promote learning in many aspects. However, challenges may arise for group work when members have different expectations and little to no familiarity with each other. This action research was to investigate how well the online peer assessment activities (in the form of Moodle workshops) implemented in two different undergraduate courses would promote individual contribution in a subsequent group project and enhance individual achievements. Online peer assessment activities were introduced in Cohort 2020-21 with the purpose to enhance team collaboration in academically heterogenous groups. The assessment scores of Cohort 2020-21 (N = 70) were compared with those of the previous cohort (N = 69), which had no peer assessment activities, using independent-samples t-tests. Additionally, students’ opinions about the online peer assessments were identified from the qualitative comments of the teaching-and-learning evaluations of one course and the focus group discussion of another course. Findings showed that students who had participated in online peer assessment activities were perceived by their peers to have better collaboration in the group work than those who had not. However, no evidence suggested that better team collaboration would associate with higher achievements in the group project, nor would the implementation of online scaffolded peer-assessed activities directly connect to higher academic performance in the individual final assessment. How peer assessment activities could be adjusted using the functions of Moodle workshops to cater for the needs of students are discussed.

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Healey, MJ, Matthews, H., Livingstone, I. and Foster I.(1997)'Learning in small groups in university geography courses: Designing a core module around group projects', Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 20, 167-180 Key words: Peer assessment; self assessment; assessing group work

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Education should be developed to better correspond to the needs of real-life situations and be the focal point of teaching and learning, thus enabling students to develop appropriate competencies for working life. In the 21st century, knowledge is no longer power! Being able to access information, apply and transfer it to problems and issues at hand is of greater value. Educational programmes at all levels should consider-and whenever possible, reflect-authentic real life applications. Particularly on the post-secondary level, a key function of teaching and learning today is preparation of students for careers and the rapidly evolving work place of the 21 century. Assessment can at its best be seen as an integral part and an ongoing parallel process to teaching and learning. Well adapted, tested assessment tools can assure reliable and valid information. This paper presents a study that aimed to identify the specific requirements and user needs concerning assessment in the Learning by Developing pedagogical environment. The study was based on a triangulation of three sources: literature, interview study and workshop integrating teachers, students and employers. Six teachers, students and employers participated in the interviews and eight teachers in the workshop. All of them participated in the same study unit organised in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in spring 2013. The results clearly show the need to develop assessment tools and methods to better understand the competencies developed through the group assignment, the teamwork efficiency as well as the individual learning process and outcome.

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6 Rules for Making Group Work Effective

There are a number of factors that are requiring educators to consider the use of more group course work. One very practical reason is the increase in class size, driven primarily by financial pressures in higher education. Creating and managing individual assessments for larger classes is becoming increasingly difficult with faculty’s course load expanding. The good news is that this need to develop group-based programs and assessments provides an opportunity to address many of the deepest concerns that employers have about recent graduates. Group work frequently addresses key competencies, including teamwork, collaboration, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving, and oral and written communication. A 2018 study from NACE provided a comparison of employer vs. student proficiency perceptions for these key metrics, a result echoed by McGraw-Hill's 2018 Future Workforce Survey .

I have been using group course work for many years and have developed some rules and guidelines (supported by findings from recent pedagogical research):

• Cap Group Work: it depends upon course level and course content, a good rule of thumb for individual vs. group grade allocation is to cap the group component at 30%. Higher allocations in graduate study can work well but are dependent on the type of assignment. Anything more than 50% causes students to be genuinely concerned about whether the grade is a true reflection of their own work.
• Be Random: Always assign groups randomly. Results are a more accurate reflection of their individual capabilities.
• Assign Later: Introduce group course work later in the semester. This allows time for students to build up core class concept competencies before having to work closely with their peers. This foundation will help improve outcomes down the road.
• Minimize Assignments: Partition the group course work into a minimum of 2 assignments but no more than 3.
• Consider Difficulty: Group assignments should be of reasonable complexity and integrate a number of course concepts.
• Optimize Group Size: As a result of increased complexity, group size should be no less than 3 and no more than 5. If it is less than 3 it is too much work. If it is more than 5, it allows group members the opportunity to not effectively contribute.

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LX / Design a group assignment

Design a group assignment

This resource offers suggestions for designing group assignments which students will finding motivating. We’ll explore how to make the assignment meaningful, easily allocated into sub-tasks, relevant to learning outcomes and achievable.

One of the most crucial aspects of group work is the task set for the group. If students engage in their task, they will be more likely to be motivated to be an active participant in group work and develop new skills. Unfortunately, many students find their tasks to be inappropriate or too difficult for group work and thus lack motivation to work collectively on the assignment. In fact, many students view their assignments as little more than an individual assessment task applied to a group of students to reduce marking.

Develop a motivating group assignment

To develop a motivating group assignment, first you need to understand what students look for in a collaborative assessment task. Understanding students’ expectations is important because it allows you to see where your task can be aligned with their expectations. It also allows you to identify where alignment may not be possible. These differences can then be discussed with the students so they understand your reasons. Students will always work better when they understand why they are being assessed in a particular way.

There are four important factors which students look for in a group assignment.

1. A meaningful assignment

Students are not only motivated by the mark they will receive for their assignment. They are also motivated by the work they will produce.

Students often report that their most motivating group assignments are those which are “client-based”. These are assignments where the groups enact the role of consultant and work on an issue which has been identified by the client (in most instances, an organisation). Groups usually produce some form of written report (or in some disciplines a product) which is assessed by the lecturer. Occasionally, the client is also invited to assess the group’s output. Students are particularly motivated when they know that the client will be viewing and assessing the work.

Designing “client-based” group assignments are becoming increasingly popular in university settings. Many organisations are interested in participating in such projects because of the insights and perspectives generated by the project groups. Non-profit organisations, with their limited resources, are often keen to become clients and students are particularly motivated to help such organisations.

Some lecturers are even beginning to view the university as a client and are designing group assignments which address particular concerns faced by students and staff.

2. Easily allocated into sub-tasks

Student groups almost always divide up their task and allocate different sections to each member. Even if you do not want the assignment to be broken up, they probably will (or at least attempt to do so).

Students argue that this is the only strategy to use when they are members of 3 or 4 other groups. Unfortunately, most groups struggle when they attempt to divide up the task because it has not been designed to be broken up. It has been designed to be completed collectively. The rationale behind this strategy is that students learn group skills by closely working together on every aspect of the task.

While this strategy can be effective, it usually takes much longer than one semester for it to work. Furthermore, it usually requires that members work together full-time on the one task. With students working part-time, on more than one task, in more than one group, it is in many ways an unrealistic strategy. There is just not enough time for students to work together on every issue.

Knowing that students divide up their group task, many lecturers are beginning to devise group assignments with this in mind. In these assignments, each group member is required to do a piece of work. These individual pieces are then combined together to form a completed group product (there is usually an introduction and conclusion which the group write together to bring the individual sections together).

Students are motivated by these types of assignments because:

• they are less dependent on each other
• they don’t have to make joint decisions on each and every issue,
• there are fewer disagreements
• they have the opportunity to ‘shine’ as well as contribute to the group

Lecturers also benefit greatly from the task design due to:

• fewer complaints about free-riding (because each member’s work is identifiable)
• greater enthusiasm for group work
• less conflict in groups
• greater peer support

As with any innovation, there are of course critics to the approach. The main criticism is that students are not working in ‘fully fledged’ groups and, as such, fail to develop a broad range of skills. While this may be true, proponents argue that it is far better to learn some skills well than many at only a shallow level. This approach works on the rationale that students should not be expected to learn too many skills in a semester, but rather focus on a number of key skills (eg. coordination, peer support, accountability).

Proponents also argue that the notion of the fully fledged group rarely exists in industry and that their approach more accurately mirrors the “real world”. In many organisations, team members often work independently on individual pieces and bring them together to form the product (or the collection of group products). The aim of their approach is to reflect this style of team work and to teach students how to operate under such a system.

It is understandable that many group assignments must be collaborative and result in a single product. For these assignments, it is important to remember that students will try to split the task up. If the task can be logically divided, it may be advisable to help them do so – this will save the group valuable time. If the task cannot be broken apart, this should be clearly explained to students before they try to do so.

3. Relevant to learning outcomes

As mentioned earlier, many students are sceptical about collaborative assessment tasks and often view them merely as a way of reducing marking. For students to be motivated to participate in group assignments, they often need to see the tangible benefits of doing so. This is best achieved by designing group assignments which are closely aligned to the learning objectives of the subject.

When designing collaborative assignments, it is important to consider what knowledge, skills and abilities you want your students to learn through group work. While there will be a generic set applicable to most group assignments (eg. learning to communicate and cooperate with peers), there will also be a specific set which need to be geared to the assignment. For example, what type of interpersonal communication skills do you want your students to learn? Do you want them to learn to communicate face-to-face or also to learn computer mediated communication? If the latter is important, then establishing an “on-line” group task (eg. an on-line debate or discussion group) would be appropriate.

All too often, lectures design group assignments with little reference to the learning objectives and this can create confusion for students. For example, students often fail to see how requirements such as communicating “on-line” or making a group presentation are relevant to their learning outcomes. Whilst the objective may be clear to the lecturer, students often have little idea. It is therefore important that the objectives of the group assignment are  explicitly  made known to students. This is best achieved through a well structured subject outline that breaks down the group assignment into its sub-components and links each component to a key learning objective.

4. An achievable assignment

When designing an appropriate group assignment, it is also important to set a task which can realistically be achieved by students within the specified time frame. Whilst the task may be meaningful and challenging, it can become too time consuming and overwhelming for students. This is particularly the case when students are doing equally challenging group assignments in their other subjects. Students often complain that many of their difficulties arise from the multiple group assignments they are forced to do each semester and how many lecturers are either insensitive or oblivious to this fact. T

he unfortunate result is that students become disillusioned with their group assignments and tend to apply themselves less. This usually results in a decrease in learning, motivation and output quality and an increase in group related problems such as conflict and the withdrawal of effort. To help design a realistically achievable task, it may therefore be worth ‘standing back’ and viewing the group assignment from the student’s perspective.

Things to consider

• Invite the client to a class or classes throughout the semester
• Restrict students from contacting the clients whenever they choose
• Provide samples of work completed by groups in previous years.
• Discuss how groups, particularly those who have done well in previous years, have gone about completing their assignment
• If you are having difficulties finding a real client, design your group assignment around a mock client (eg. a hypothetical client or a client from a previous year)

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• v.17(1); Spring 2018

Kristy J. Wilson

† Biology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Marian University, Indianapolis, IN 46222

Peggy Brickman

‡ Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602

Cynthia J. Brame

§ Center for Teaching and Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203

This essay introduces an evidence-based teaching guide presenting research and resources related to group work. The guide provides links to key articles accompanied by summaries organized by teaching challenge and an instructor checklist. In addition to describing the guide, the article identifies areas for further research.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty are increasingly incorporating both formal and informal group work in their courses. Implementing group work can be improved by an understanding of the extensive body of educational research studies on this topic. This essay describes an online, evidence-based teaching guide published by CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ). The guide provides a tour of research studies and resources related to group work (including many articles from LSE ). Instructors who are new to group work, as well as instructors who have experienced difficulties in implementing group work, may value the condensed summaries of key research findings. These summaries are organized by teaching challenges, and actionable advice is provided in a checklist for instructors. Education researchers may value the inclusion of empirical studies, key reviews, and meta-analyses of group-work studies. In addition to describing key features of the guide, this essay also identifies areas in which further empirical studies are warranted.

INTRODUCTION

Group work is one of the most widely used and deeply researched teaching approaches in the college classroom. Group work that promotes students’ collaboration to achieve shared learning goals has been shown to increase student achievement, persistence, and attitudes toward science (e.g., Springer et al ., 1999 ; Tanner et al ., 2003 ; Johnson and Johnson, 2009 ; Johnson et al ., 2014 ). It can provide opportunities for students to explain their reasoning to one another and to themselves, thereby promoting the cognitive restructuring that leads to learning (e.g., Kagan, 2014 ). It offers opportunities for formative assessment and feedback with peers to shape that learning (e.g., Johnson and Johnson, 2009 ). It also provides students with an avenue to incorporate diverse viewpoints and to develop communication and teamwork skills that are especially important in scientific collaboration and professional fields (e.g., Lamm et al. , 2012 ).

However, anyone who has worked in a group or used group work in courses has experienced challenges. These challenges, if left unchecked, can prevent effective learning and result in poor-quality products, unequal distribution of workload, and escalating conflict among team members (e.g., Feichtner and Davis, 1984 ). In this article, we describe an evidence-based teaching guide that we have created to condense, summarize, and provide actionable advice from research findings (including many articles from CBE—Life Sciences Education [ LSE ]). The guide can be found on the American Society for Cell Biology website ( https://lse.ascb.org/evidence -based-teaching-guides/group-work ), and a link will be listed on the LSE home page to direct users to a complete list of guides as this feature grows. We have included several useful features in the guide: a landing page that indicates starting points for instructors ( Figure 1 ), syntheses of observations from the literature ( Figure 2 ), summaries of and links to selected papers ( Figure 3 ), and an instructor checklist that details recommendations and points to consider. The guide is meant to aid instructors who are new to group work as well as instructors who have tried group work and experienced difficulties or want to improve their students’ experiences and outcomes. Researchers interested in exploring this area will also appreciate our efforts to identify empirical studies, informative reviews, and unanswered questions for which additional research is warranted. Some of the questions that we have considered in developing the guide are highlighted in the following sections.

Screenshot representing the landing page of the guide, which provides readers with an overview of choice points.

Screenshot showing an example description of overall conclusions that can be drawn about an element of group work, based on a synthesis of the literature.

Screenshots representing (A) summaries and links to important papers and (B) other resources.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF FORMING PERMANENT VERSUS TEMPORARY GROUPS?

The guide begins by separating findings, recommendations, and resources for formal, permanent groups from informal, temporary groups. During formal group work, students work in persistent groups for an extended period on a collaborative project, while in informal group work, ad hoc groups work together on an in-class problem or question for periods ranging from a few minutes to a full class session ( Johnson et al ., 2014 ). Formal group work requires more planning and coordination, but the benefits are that it can help students work together to reach important course objectives. Informal group work, on the other hand, is easy to incorporate into classes of any size and in any space. Informal group work can be an effective supplement to lecture, allowing learners to process information, and is often an essential part of, or used in conjunction with, classic active-learning techniques (e.g., Tanner et al. , 2003 ).

Three elements that are particularly important to consider in structuring formal group work are task interdependence, individual accountability, and reward interdependence ( Johnson and Johnson, 2009 ). Task interdependence refers to the degree to which group members must work together to complete the assigned task. For optimal group benefit and motivation, tasks should not be able to be completed by just one or two group members, but rather should require contributions from all group members (e.g., Gillies, 2013 ). Individual accountability, or the understanding that group members will be responsible for the work they specifically contribute, reduces social free-riding in group settings and encourages members to contribute. Reward interdependence can be accomplished through several mechanisms, including shared grades, for which individual students earn a final grade that relies on scores earned by their team members on a test or assignment, or certificates of recognition that students can earn if their average team scores on quizzes or other individual assignments exceed a pre-established criterion ( Serrano and Pons, 2007 ).

Notably, the very distinction between the types of group work points to an unanswered research question:

Are there specific types of outcomes that are better met with informal group work rather than formal group work, or vice versa?

SHOULD INSTRUCTORS FORM GROUPS OR LET STUDENTS SELF-SELECT THEIR OWN GROUPS?

When planning formal group work, the literature suggests that instructors should form small groups (typically three to five students), considering student characteristics that can contribute to effective group processes and performance (e.g., Treen et al. , 2016 ; and other references within the Group Size section of the guide). Generally, groups that are gender balanced, are ethnically diverse, and have members with different problem-solving approaches have been shown to exhibit enhanced collaboration (see references within the Group Composition section of the guide). Within these generic observations, however, there are a number of unanswered questions for which further research is needed:

• What are the different impacts for ethnic majority and minority students in ethnically diverse groups? If so, what are they, and why do they occur?
• Does context determine effective gender composition for groups? If so, is it a generalizable context (e.g., physics groups work best with one composition, while biology groups work best with another composition)? Alternatively, does the effectiveness of different group gender compositions depend on the measure being used (e.g., creativity of final product, effectiveness of group communication)? Are there task features or group structures that can mitigate disadvantages of particular gender mixes?
• The data on academic performance as a diversity factor also do not point to a single conclusion. What features of group work lead to benefits for high-, mid-, or low-performing students? Will these features be combined to benefit mixed-ability groups? Do homogeneous or heterogeneous groups provide a greater advantage?
• What are effective steps to take to support students with different disabilities while they participate in group work?

WHAT CAN INSTRUCTORS DO TO PROMOTE QUALITY GROUP EXPERIENCES?

There are a number of common problems that students and instructors experience when involved in group work. The most commonly reported problem is uneven workload (free-riding or overbearing students). However, groups also experience other types of social conflict and lack of cohesion that can result in production of “Frankenstein products” that are a conglomeration of individual student efforts without integration and synthesis of ideas. There are several practices and resources that can help ensure that groups function more effectively. Students report greater satisfaction with group work if the instructor has implemented methods to monitor and manage groups ( Chapman and Van Auken, 2001 ; and other references within Setting Group Norms ). Suggested methods include providing an opportunity for students to discuss their expectations for group work and setting group norms. For group work that spans multiple days or weeks, providing opportunities for identifying individual effort and allowing students to evaluate their peers can allow for ongoing adjustments to group dynamics. Assigning specific roles to students within groups can emphasize interdependence, and prompting students to provide elaborated explanations during discussions can help promote learning gains ( Gillies, 2013 ). Even with these recommendations, there are many unanswered questions.

• Findings from research studies on peer evaluation have clearly identified several methods to identify dysfunctional groups. What are the potential solutions to address dysfunctional groups and under what conditions are these solutions effective? When is it more effective to disband a dysfunctional group rather than enforce mediation?
• What is the best method to deal with persistent free-riders?

WHAT TASKS ARE IDEAL FOR PROMOTING EFFECTIVE GROUP WORK?

We describe a number of formalized group-work pedagogies with defined criteria and tasks that instructors can consider. These include problem-based learning, team-based learning, process-oriented guided inquiry learning, case-based learning, and peer-led team learning, all of which have descriptions and biology-relevant papers linked within the Formalized Pedagogies section of the guide. Instructors considering these approaches should consider forming a team of instructors, administrators, and/or staff to address the attendant time and resource needs. For any group task, it is important to consider why group work is being used in a particular situation and how it meets the instructor’s learning goals for students. To help promote student buy-in and student learning, these goals should be shared with students, along with an explanation of how the group work aligns with these goals.

Effective group tasks should challenge groups to solve highly complex or ill-structured problems that require the collaboration of the group to solve (e.g., Scager et al. , 2016 ; and other references within the Task Features section). In addition, tasks that engage student interest, such as by using contemporary issues relevant to students’ lives and generating products for an audience outside the classroom, can increase students’ motivation (e.g., Schmidt et al. , 2011 ). With this general recommendation in mind, however, there are a number of unanswered questions:

• Typically, a task’s relevance to students’ lives increases task value and thus student motivation. What are the best ways to structure relevant tasks in the biology classroom? Do these features differ by major or level of student?
• Does a students-as-producers approach, wherein students generate new knowledge for an external audience, impact motivation for all students or only some? Does the relative size of the product/student contribution matter (e.g., one figure on a poster vs. entire infographic for congressional representative)?
• How do different group tasks or task instructions affect cognitive development of knowledge structures and their use? What tasks support development of declarative knowledge (what), procedural knowledge (how), and conceptual knowledge (when/why)?
• Students lie at various places along the novice–expert continuum. How do we match scaffolding to student needs?

WHEN NOT TO USE GROUP WORK

We finish this summary to our guide by cautioning that group work is not a panacea for learning. A great deal of research has defined the type of tasks for which group work is more effective than individual learning. Groups of students show greater gains than individual students for tasks that are complex and ill-­defined with multiple possible correct answers ( Kirschner et al. , 2011 ), but for simpler tasks that require recall, definitions, or looking up information, students exhibit greater gains when they work on their own. Thus, maximizing the benefits of group work requires that instructors attend to the learning goals they want their students to attain and, if applicable, the group-work structures that they put in place to help the students reach those goals.

Acknowledgments

We thank William Pierce and Thea Clarke for their efforts in producing the Evidence-Based Teaching Guides website and the American Society for Cell Biology for hosting the site.

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Designing Peer and Group Assignments for Online Courses

Audrey Wick is an English professor at Blinn College in central Texas

Writing skills are important for college students at any stage. Whether they are in a writing-intensive course or simply using their skills to navigate a traditional course, strength in written communication will help students be successful, lifelong learners.

For instructors, one step toward that success is designing peer and/or group assignments to help students develop these important skills. But when instructors themselves face uncertainty of student population and modality, how can they effectively plan for these types of assignments?

Redefine What Constitutes “Group” Assignments

In terms of traditional pedagogical thinking, “group” assignments generally mean three or more students working in collaboration toward a singular goal. But collaboration can occur in pairs as well. Often, working with one other individual can still help students practice important skills of planning, drafting and revision. When courses are small or retention becomes an issue, pairing students who are active and engaged in the class can help ensure that no one goes missing-in-action for the duration of an assignment.

Also, by keeping groups small, whether through pairs or not, assignments can often be accomplished in a much shorter amount of time. For instance, in the English environment, peer editing is streamlined through the use of pairing rather than trying to accomplish this in small groups. For those instructors who want more students to contribute to the assignment, pairing can happen more than once.

When peer editing , I frequently pair students—and then pair them again. That way, they get more than one perspective in feedback but are only focused on providing that in one-on-one settings. This keeps the assignment manageable for them to complete as well as for me, as the instructor, to track.

Avoid the Pitfall of Expecting a Face-to-Face Result When Online

When assignments are adapted to the online learning environment , instructors should not try to—necessarily—translate a face-to-face project into a digital application. That’s because organic parts of the process like brainstorming may not work synergistically online.

Nonetheless, if an instructor gives the group a starting point and direct guidance for the end goals (think: due date, submission format, required length, research requirements, etc.), this will take the guesswork out of the initial group work and help the students work more effectively.

Let Existing Technology Be Assistive

There is no need to reinvent writing process stages or try to build digital assignments from the ground up. Instead, tap into existing platforms at your institution or through your textbook publisher in order to create effective group assignments that work.

Many textbooks have digital components, companion websites, assistive project arms and more. For instance, writing instructors have several options for programs students can use for electronic portfolios, document sharing and peer editing. The technology here can connect students in digital pairs and groups, giving them the flexibility of space and time to complete the assignments collaboratively in a fully online environment.

Don’t Overlook Institutional Resources

Does your college have a library, learning lab, tutoring center or campus computer technicians that are student-facing? Likely your institution already has tools that you can use in creating and managing peer and group assignments.

For starters, speak with librarians at your institution, or research existing digital tools available through the library page. Many have how-to videos, style guides, plagiarism tutorials and more. Link these through your digital classroom or import them to your Learning Management System. Viola! Tailored content at their fingertips!

You’re Ready!

Incorporating collaboration opportunities is one way instructors can help students feel more connected in their college classes, no matter what their digital landscape looks like.

Do you assign group work? If so, don’t miss the recording from our Empowered Educator webinar offering expert tips on making it equitable, meaningful and effective.

Related articles.

Center for Teaching Innovation

Ideas for group & collaborative assignments, why collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning can help

• students develop higher-level thinking, communication, self-management, and leadership skills
• explore a broad range of perspectives and provide opportunities for student voices/expression
• promote teamwork skills & ethics
• prepare students for real life social and employment situations
• increase student retention, self-esteem, and responsibility

Collaborative activities & tools

Group brainstorming & investigation in shared documents.

Have students work together to investigate or brainstorm a question in a shared document (e.g., structured Google doc, Google slide, or sheet) or an online whiteboard, and report their findings back to the class.

• Immediate view of contributions
• Synchronous & asynchronous group work
• Students can come back to the shared document to revise, re-use, or add information
• Google workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, & Slides)
• Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)
• Cornell Box (document storage)
• Whiteboarding tools ( Zoom , JamBoard , Miro , Mural , etc.)

Considerations

• Sharing settings
• Global access
• Accessibility

Group discussions with video conferencing and chat

Ask students to post an answer to a question or share their thoughts about class content in the Zoom chat window (best for smaller classes). For large classes, ask students in Zoom breakout rooms to choose a group notetaker to post group discussion notes in the chat window after returning to the main class session.

You can also use a discussion board for asynchronous group work.

• Students can post their reflections in real time and read/share responses
• If group work is organized asynchronously, students can come back to the discussion board at their own time

Synchronous group work:

• Zoom Breakout rooms
• Microsoft Teams
• Canvas Conferences
• Canvas Group Discussions
• Ed Discussion
• Stable access to WiFi and its bandwidth
• Clear expectations about participation and pace for asynchronous discussion boards
• Monitoring discussion boards

Group projects: creation

Students retrieve and synthesize information by collaborating with their peers to create something new: a written piece, an infographic, a piece of code, or students collectively respond to sample test questions.

• Group projects may benefit from features offered by shared online space (ability to chat, do video conferencing, share files and links, post announcements and discussion threads, and build content)
• Canvas groups with all available tools

Setting up groups and group projects for success may require the following steps:

• Introduce group or peer work early in the semester
• Establishing ground rules for participation
• Plan for each step of group work
• Explain how groups will function and the grading

Peer learning, critiquing, giving feedback

Students submit their first draft of an essay, research proposal, or a design, and the submitted work is distributed for peer review. If students work on a project in teams, they can check in with each other through a group member evaluation activity. Students can also build on each other’s knowledge and understanding of the topic in Zoom breakout room discussions or by sharing and responding in an online discussion board.

When providing feedback and critiquing, students have to apply their knowledge, problem-solving skills, and develop feedback literacy. Students also engage more deeply with the assignment requirements and/or the rubric.

• FeedbackFruits Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation
• Canvas Peer Review
• Turnitin PeerMark
• Zoom breakout rooms
• Canvas discussions, and other discussion tools
• Peer review is a multistep activity and may require careful design and consideration of requirements to help students achieve the learning outcomes. The assignment requirements will inform which platform is best to use and the best settings for the assignment
• We advise making the first peer review activity a low-stakes assignment for the students to get used to the platform and the flow.
• A carefully written rubric helps guide students through the process of giving feedback and yields more constructive feedback.
• It helps when the timing for the activity is generous, so students have enough time to first submit their work and then give feedback.

Group reflection & social annotation activities

Students can annotate, highlight, discuss, and collaborate on text documents, images, video, audio, and websites. Instructors can post guiding questions for students to respond to, and allow students to post their own questions to be answered by peers. This is a great reading activity leading up to an inperson discussion.

• Posing discussion topics and/or questions for students to answer as they read a paper
• Students can collaboratively read and annotate synchronously and asynchronously
• Collaborative annotation helps students to acknowledge some parts of reading that they could have neglected otherwise
• Annotating in small groups
• FeedbackFruits
• Interactive Media (annotations on document, video, and audio)
• Providing students with thorough instructions
• These are all third-party tools, so the settings should be selected thoughtfully
• Accessibility (Perusall)

Group learning with polling and team competitions

Instructors can poll students while they are in breakout rooms using Poll Everywhere. This activity is great for checking understanding and peer learning activities, as students will be able to discuss solutions.

• Students can share screen in a breakout room and/or answer questions together
• This activity can be facilitated as a competition among teams
• Poll Everywhere competitions, surveys, and polls facilitated in breakout rooms
• Careful construction of questions for students
• Students may need to be taught how to answer online questions
• It requires appropriate internet connection and can experience delays in response summaries.

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How to effectively do a group assignment or project

This is tough.  Usually the people who are really good at math are a little antisocial and adverse to groups or at least, they don’t need to work in a group to get good grades.  This does change the higher up you go in math and the increasing workload and difficulty and complexity of the problems forces you to either work in a group or give up sleep for a term at a time!  In any case, at the more introductory levels of math, high school and first year university level, working in groups can be fun and a great way to develop new friendships, network, develop your communication and teaching skills and just meet new people.  One common way of doing a group assignment or project in math or analytical types of subjects that isn’t very “group oriented”.

Method 1: How not to do a group assignment

There is the risk that in a group, if there is an assignment with a set number of problems, say 10,

• A couple of problems are assigned to each person in the group.
• then each person goes off and solves their assigned problems on their own,
• everyone brings their solved problems together,
• puts everyone’s names on the finished set of solutions and
• TA DA! The group assignment completed yet no “group work” was done.

Advantages of Method 1:

• Less work because you don’t have to do all the questions on the assignment.
• You can work on the problems at your convenience and only need to have a solution prepared for the due date.

Disadvantages of Method 1:

• This is not an effective way to work as a “group”. This may get the assignment completed and save time because you only have to do a fraction of the assignment problems.
• But what ends up happening as well is that you only learn a fraction of the material.
• There is also no guarantee anyone will work together. And there is the possibility that someone doesn’t spend much time on their assigned questions and as a result there is a greater risk of a poor job being done.

A better more “group oriented” way to do a group assignment for math or some analytical subject could be,

Method 2: Better way to do a group assignment

Take the 10 questions and assign each person a couple of questions to

• research and be responsible for. This doesn’t mean complete and solve entirely on their own, but are responsible for understanding, doing some background reading on and bringing to the table for discussion and then writing up the solution for.
• everyone in the group agrees to meet back in say a couple of days. Let’s assume we have a week to complete and hand in this group assignment.
• during those couple of day, each person takes their couple of questions, does some research on the topic pertaining to the questions, background reading, possible ways to attack the problems and some questions related to the questions to bring up for discuss at the meeting.
• During the meeting, each person goes over their assigned questions, what they found out during their research and background reading and their questions for the group.
• The group then discusses these question, everyone offering their two cents worth to solution or possible methods of attack.
• The one responsible for those questions makes notes and if a solution has been established during the discussion, writes up the solution. If a solution has not been established, agrees to go off and work on the problem with the discussed information.
• This process is repeated for everyone in the group.
• After everyone and every problem has been presented and discussed, everyone agrees to one last meeting time at which time finishing touches will be placed on solutions and all the solutions brought together.
• Everyone goes off to work on their assigned problems.
• Between this time and the final meeting time, discussions can still occur amongst any of the group members either in person, email or any other means to help each other out.

In this way described above everyone in the group is acquainted with each problem on the assignment and has a sense of the challenges of each problem. With any group assignment there is just the one copy of the completed assignment. This isn’t great for study purposes. Once the assignment has been marked and handed back, one group member takes responsibility to make copies for everyone. While this way of doing a group assignment doesn’t seem to save time, and probably doesn’t, it uses the time in a different way.

Advantages of Method 2:

• Everyone gets a chance to hear and learn ow another person thinks and goes through the problem solving process.
• Each person has a chance to present their findings, take information from others to help solve a problem and to think together in a group cooperatively on a common problem.
• Each group member is forced to dedicate time to the problems rather than leaving it until the last minute. It forces time management.
• It create accountability to a group which in many cases forces some to make the assignment a priority. This can be good for some!
• It gives you a chance to get to know some of your classmates and this can be invaluable in the future.

Disadvantages of Method 2:

• Probably won’t save you time.
• You will have to make the assignment and your assignment problems a priority and keep on top of it.
• You will need to be able to think on your feet during the group discussion part for the other problems. Perhaps even read through the other problems before the first group followup meeting.

This second method isn’t the only way to do a group assignment but it is a more effective and valuable way than the first. Sadly, too often the first method of doing a group assignment or project is what usually ends up happening. Take advantage of group assignments as a chance to learn in a different way.

Above we looked at doing an assigned group project or assignment. But there are other ways you can work in a group. The most common is outside of classes in informal study groups that just organically form. This is another post and more along the lines of a study group, rather than doing a group assignment or project.

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Reflection on Group Assignments and What Worked This Time

Group assignments often come with challenges. In the past many of us have handled most or close to none of a group project. Students may have different goals, different deadlines, and even different understandings of the assignment. However, there are ways to mitigate challenges when, and even before, they arise.

ESLTECH provided our class the opportunity to engage in a group project. Unlike past assignments in other classes, where the work is distributed among the group early, only for communication to arise toward the deadline, and finding out that little of the project is completed and some students have done nothing, this project was intended for us to use different strategies within group projects.

Our project focused on analyzing a case study where a student, Sarah, was having difficulty with her group project. We were to analyze and identify her problems, provide solutions and recommendations, and include an intro and conclusion, add audio, and create a PowerPoint presentation. This project required a fair and early distribution of work, but was also an online project, where as face to face interaction was limited. However, we worked through the project quickly, communicatively, and with little stress by mitigating problems before they arose and mitigating them when they did.

Here’s what worked for us:

Finding an early means of communication:

• Early in the project our group emailed each other and discussed the most effective means of communication. We found that our group would work best by using text messaging. This is the primary form of communication that we used throughout the project. Identifying this allowed for the group to communicate with ease, individually, and within a group message.

Responding quickly:

• Our group typically responded promptly to messages from other group members. Questions and group conversations were answered and scheduled quickly, usually within the day, but sometimes within the hour. I feel this was one of the largest contributors to our group’s success. It showed that every member of the group was willing to work effectively and to contribute to the project. It also allowed for ease of setting up an online discussion.

Can’t communicate face to face? Communicate in an online forum:

• We decided to set up an online discussion for our group on the OSU Carmen Canvas page. From such, we were able to all come together to discuss important aspects of the project in one place. While we did not meet face to face, we were able to tell who was present within the meeting. Each member attended the discussion.

Identifying purpose, goals, expectations, internal deadlines:

• In our online Carmen discussion, we identified important aspects of the project, including the distribution of work, expectations of the work, and our own deadlines. We agreed to finish the work at least a day ahead so each member could finish their part and so we could have an extra day in case anything would arise. The distribution of work was fairly equated and discussed. Each member picked what they wanted to work on.

Problems arise, finding a means of compromise:

• Toward the last day of the project our group was finding little time to record audio due to outside circumstances. As such, the member who was unable to record audio compromised by writing a script for their audio. The script was recorded by another group member. In past projects I have worked on, if there are outside circumstances limiting the time for work, the member of the group would often not due the work at all and would expect another group member to finish their part. However, in this case, the compromise allowed for the project to be completed fairly, with no hard feelings.

Personal – working on my slide throughout the project:

• One aspect that eased stress during the project was working on the project throughout several days. One day I set out the layout for my slide. The next, I specifically found what I wanted to talk about. Following, on the last day, recorded the audio. Breaking my part into smaller parts meant that I wouldn’t have to work on the entire slide on the last day.

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• Random Assignment in Experiments | Introduction & Examples

Random Assignment in Experiments | Introduction & Examples

Published on March 8, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on June 22, 2023.

In experimental research, random assignment is a way of placing participants from your sample into different treatment groups using randomization.

With simple random assignment, every member of the sample has a known or equal chance of being placed in a control group or an experimental group. Studies that use simple random assignment are also called completely randomized designs .

Random assignment is a key part of experimental design . It helps you ensure that all groups are comparable at the start of a study: any differences between them are due to random factors, not research biases like sampling bias or selection bias .

Table of contents

Why does random assignment matter, random sampling vs random assignment, how do you use random assignment, when is random assignment not used, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about random assignment.

Random assignment is an important part of control in experimental research, because it helps strengthen the internal validity of an experiment and avoid biases.

In experiments, researchers manipulate an independent variable to assess its effect on a dependent variable, while controlling for other variables. To do so, they often use different levels of an independent variable for different groups of participants.

This is called a between-groups or independent measures design.

You use three groups of participants that are each given a different level of the independent variable:

• a control group that’s given a placebo (no dosage, to control for a placebo effect ),
• an experimental group that’s given a low dosage,
• a second experimental group that’s given a high dosage.

Random assignment to helps you make sure that the treatment groups don’t differ in systematic ways at the start of the experiment, as this can seriously affect (and even invalidate) your work.

If you don’t use random assignment, you may not be able to rule out alternative explanations for your results.

• participants recruited from cafes are placed in the control group ,
• participants recruited from local community centers are placed in the low dosage experimental group,
• participants recruited from gyms are placed in the high dosage group.

With this type of assignment, it’s hard to tell whether the participant characteristics are the same across all groups at the start of the study. Gym-users may tend to engage in more healthy behaviors than people who frequent cafes or community centers, and this would introduce a healthy user bias in your study.

Although random assignment helps even out baseline differences between groups, it doesn’t always make them completely equivalent. There may still be extraneous variables that differ between groups, and there will always be some group differences that arise from chance.

Most of the time, the random variation between groups is low, and, therefore, it’s acceptable for further analysis. This is especially true when you have a large sample. In general, you should always use random assignment in experiments when it is ethically possible and makes sense for your study topic.

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Random sampling and random assignment are both important concepts in research, but it’s important to understand the difference between them.

Random sampling (also called probability sampling or random selection) is a way of selecting members of a population to be included in your study. In contrast, random assignment is a way of sorting the sample participants into control and experimental groups.

While random sampling is used in many types of studies, random assignment is only used in between-subjects experimental designs.

Some studies use both random sampling and random assignment, while others use only one or the other.

Random sampling enhances the external validity or generalizability of your results, because it helps ensure that your sample is unbiased and representative of the whole population. This allows you to make stronger statistical inferences .

You use a simple random sample to collect data. Because you have access to the whole population (all employees), you can assign all 8000 employees a number and use a random number generator to select 300 employees. These 300 employees are your full sample.

Random assignment enhances the internal validity of the study, because it ensures that there are no systematic differences between the participants in each group. This helps you conclude that the outcomes can be attributed to the independent variable .

• a control group that receives no intervention.
• an experimental group that has a remote team-building intervention every week for a month.

You use random assignment to place participants into the control or experimental group. To do so, you take your list of participants and assign each participant a number. Again, you use a random number generator to place each participant in one of the two groups.

To use simple random assignment, you start by giving every member of the sample a unique number. Then, you can use computer programs or manual methods to randomly assign each participant to a group.

• Random number generator: Use a computer program to generate random numbers from the list for each group.
• Lottery method: Place all numbers individually in a hat or a bucket, and draw numbers at random for each group.
• Flip a coin: When you only have two groups, for each number on the list, flip a coin to decide if they’ll be in the control or the experimental group.
• Use a dice: When you have three groups, for each number on the list, roll a dice to decide which of the groups they will be in. For example, assume that rolling 1 or 2 lands them in a control group; 3 or 4 in an experimental group; and 5 or 6 in a second control or experimental group.

This type of random assignment is the most powerful method of placing participants in conditions, because each individual has an equal chance of being placed in any one of your treatment groups.

Random assignment in block designs

In more complicated experimental designs, random assignment is only used after participants are grouped into blocks based on some characteristic (e.g., test score or demographic variable). These groupings mean that you need a larger sample to achieve high statistical power .

For example, a randomized block design involves placing participants into blocks based on a shared characteristic (e.g., college students versus graduates), and then using random assignment within each block to assign participants to every treatment condition. This helps you assess whether the characteristic affects the outcomes of your treatment.

In an experimental matched design , you use blocking and then match up individual participants from each block based on specific characteristics. Within each matched pair or group, you randomly assign each participant to one of the conditions in the experiment and compare their outcomes.

Sometimes, it’s not relevant or ethical to use simple random assignment, so groups are assigned in a different way.

When comparing different groups

Sometimes, differences between participants are the main focus of a study, for example, when comparing men and women or people with and without health conditions. Participants are not randomly assigned to different groups, but instead assigned based on their characteristics.

In this type of study, the characteristic of interest (e.g., gender) is an independent variable, and the groups differ based on the different levels (e.g., men, women, etc.). All participants are tested the same way, and then their group-level outcomes are compared.

When it’s not ethically permissible

When studying unhealthy or dangerous behaviors, it’s not possible to use random assignment. For example, if you’re studying heavy drinkers and social drinkers, it’s unethical to randomly assign participants to one of the two groups and ask them to drink large amounts of alcohol for your experiment.

When you can’t assign participants to groups, you can also conduct a quasi-experimental study . In a quasi-experiment, you study the outcomes of pre-existing groups who receive treatments that you may not have any control over (e.g., heavy drinkers and social drinkers). These groups aren’t randomly assigned, but may be considered comparable when some other variables (e.g., age or socioeconomic status) are controlled for.

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If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Student’s  t -distribution
• Normal distribution
• Null and Alternative Hypotheses
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Data cleansing
• Reproducibility vs Replicability
• Peer review
• Prospective cohort study

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Placebo effect
• Hawthorne effect
• Hindsight bias
• Affect heuristic
• Social desirability bias

In experimental research, random assignment is a way of placing participants from your sample into different groups using randomization. With this method, every member of the sample has a known or equal chance of being placed in a control group or an experimental group.

Random selection, or random sampling , is a way of selecting members of a population for your study’s sample.

In contrast, random assignment is a way of sorting the sample into control and experimental groups.

Random sampling enhances the external validity or generalizability of your results, while random assignment improves the internal validity of your study.

Random assignment is used in experiments with a between-groups or independent measures design. In this research design, there’s usually a control group and one or more experimental groups. Random assignment helps ensure that the groups are comparable.

In general, you should always use random assignment in this type of experimental design when it is ethically possible and makes sense for your study topic.

To implement random assignment , assign a unique number to every member of your study’s sample .

Then, you can use a random number generator or a lottery method to randomly assign each number to a control or experimental group. You can also do so manually, by flipping a coin or rolling a dice to randomly assign participants to groups.

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