I use group work as a gambit to get the students to know one another, so we can cohere better as a larger group. Inevitably there are jerks and there are perfectionists; mostly there are ordinary students who want the project to go well. I do my best for those. I randomize the groups to a certain extent, but once I get the lay of the land, I start putting certain people together to spread the talent more widely. What I don’t allow is the super group or the loser group. And I mostly do group work in-class now so that resentments are not allowed to fester.
Really interesting challenge. There is a history of team-work and team building. And I guess the military has been trying for this amidst hierarchy. I also think of those who have trouble finishing anything, a quality that may be made even more difficult in the group exercise as the group finishes the work anyway. And I know two people over the decades who made their living as basically contractors finishing the work that teams and groups never seem to have been able to finish. Top Chef is a great lab for this. Thanks Tim.
I use group work as a gambit to get the students to know one another, so we can cohere better as a larger group. Inevitably there are jerks and there are perfectionists; mostly there are ordinary students who want the project to go well. I do my best for those. I randomize the groups to a certain extent, but once I get the lay of the land, I start putting certain people together to spread the talent more widely. What I don’t allow is the super group or the loser group. And I mostly do group work in-class now so that resentments are not allowed to fester.
Really interesting challenge. There is a history of team-work and team building. And I guess the military has been trying for this amidst hierarchy. I also think of those who have trouble finishing anything, a quality that may be made even more difficult in the group exercise as the group finishes the work anyway. And I know two people over the decades who made their living as basically contractors finishing the work that teams and groups never seem to have been able to finish. Top Chef is a great lab for this. Thanks Tim.