Functioning as a Team

Cooperative/Collaborative Learning is Interactive; as a Team Member, You:

• Develop and share a common goal.
• Contribute your understanding of the problem.
• Questions, insights, and solutions.
• Respond to, and work to understand, others' questions, insights, and solutions.
• Each member empowers the other to speak and contribute.
• And to consider their contributions.
• Are accountable to others, and they are accountable to you.
• Are dependent on others, and they depend on you.

What Makes for a Good Learning Team?

• Team activities begin with training in and understanding group processes.
• An instructor begins by facilitating discussion and suggesting alternatives.
• but does not impose solutions on the team, especially those having difficulty working together.
• Three to five people - Larger teams have difficulty in keeping everyone involved.
• Teacher-assigned groups - They function better than self-assigned groups.

Diverse skill levels, backgrounds, experience:

• Each individual brings strengths to a group.
• Each member of the group is responsible to not only contribute his/her strengths but also helping others understand the source of their strengths.
• Any member who is at a disadvantage or not comfortable with the majority should be encouraged and proactively empowered to contribute.
• Learning is positively influenced by a diversity of perspectives and experience increasing options for problem-solving and expanding the range of details to consider.

The commitment of each member to a goal that is defined and understood by the group:

• Confidential peer ratings are a good way to assess who is and who is not contributing.
• Groups have the right to fire a non-cooperative or non-participating member if all remedies have failed. (The person fired then has to find another group to accept him/her.)
• Individuals can quit if they believe they are doing most of the work with little assistance from others. (This person can often easily find another group to welcome his/her contributions.)

Shared operating principles and responsibilities, defined and agreed to by each member. These include:

• Commitment to attend, prepare and be on time for meetings.
• Have discussions and disagreements focus on issues, avoiding personal criticism.
• Take responsibility for a share of the tasks and carry them out on time.
• You may need to perform tasks that you have little experience, feel ill-prepared for, or even think others would do better. Accept the challenge but be comfortable in stating that you may need help, training, a mentor, or must resign and take on a different task.

Team Process

Set up goals, define how often and with what means you will communicate, evaluate progress, make decisions, and resolve conflict:

• Define resources, especially someone who can provide direction, supervision, counsel, and even arbitrate.
• Schedule a review of your progress and communication to discuss what is working and what is not working.
• Teams with problems should be invited or required to meet with the instructor to discuss possible solutions.

Summary of the entire process:

At the first meeting, all participants:

• Introduce themselves with what they bring to the project, their interests, qualifications, and even preferences in projects.
• Determine a convener and/or clerk who will keep participants on task. his is determined by your first group process and should consider who would like to volunteer, experience and expertise with the task and even a desire to learn about group tasks.
• Determine the strategy of how often to meet in person or through technology.
• where the group will meet, communicating including email and (cell) phone information and how to distribute minutes and updates.

Summarise Objectives: 

Strategy: Each member independently writes down one or two main objectives of the project, then the group compares these, extracts keywords and phrases, then prioritizes results. If agreement cannot be reached, refer the matter to the teacher.

Group members should realize that this is a procedural situation, and not a matter of controversy or heated argument.

Determine Process to Achieve the Objectives:

What is the timeline? What are the deliverables and when are they needed?

Do you need sub-groups? Project planning tools (Gantt, Critical Path, PERT)?

What applications do you need (word processing, spreadsheets, cameras, imaging software (Photoshop), presentation software (PowerPoint), Website, etc.?

Process Stages:

Research discovery: library, Internet, professional associations, experts, etc.

Research analysis: often in the process, difficulties appear:

Consolidation and identifying key concepts and issues.

Mid-stream check-in, planning for gaps, requests for assistance, etc.

Product Development:

• Development of a thesis statement, individual sections.
• Write/compile documents or presentations.
• Opening | body | closing statement/argument.
• Bibliography
• Review and evaluation
• Product | process | participation
• Project summary
• Rehearsal for presentation
• Presentation
• Celebration

More on Group Projects

Interaction within the group is based upon mutual respect and encouragement.

Often creativity is vague. Ideas are important to the success of the project, not personalities. A group's strength lies in its ability to develop ideas individuals bring.

Conflict can be an extension of creativity. The group should be aware of this eventuality. Resolution of conflict balances the end goals with mutual respect. In other words, a group project is a cooperative, rather than a competitive, learning experience.

The Two Major Objectives of a Group Project Are

What is learned: factual material as well as the process.

What is produced: written paper, presentation, and/or media project.

High Achievers Versus Low Achievers

We assume high achievers mentor or teach low achievers. Not always so! It is often the most basic questions that ensure that the group stays focused, looks at the fundamentals and thus gains a deeper understanding of the topic. Thus: Low achievers then tutor or teach high achievers!

High achievers could contribute in other ways in cooperative settings, such as leadership skills, self-esteem gains, conflict resolution skills, and role-taking abilities which become part of the learning process, and the betterment of the student.