Teaching And Learning With Groups: Keys to Success

Course Description
Teaching and Learning with Groups: Keys to Success presents proven methods for teaching students through group teaching and learning. Based on research and years of practice, this model helps teachers avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the many benefits of cooperative learning. The skills and procedures taught in this course and practiced in applied assignments will enable educators to motivate students by shaking up tired lesson plans. Students will become more involved, not only with their own learning, but IN the learning of others as well. This will enable students to develop important life skills for working in teams while learning subject matter more completely through increased retention.

Objectives
• Identify major concerns and roadblocks to using group projects in the classroom
• Identify major benefits and needs for teaching students cooperative group skills
• Distinguish between cooperative, competitive, and individualistic approaches to learning
• Learn ways of structuring groups to take advantage of individual differences and maximize strengths
• Identify the skills necessary for successful student participation in group learning
• Examine ways of ensuring fair participation and grading in group projects
• Learn different structures and methods for achieving different group outcomes
• Master the teacher competencies necessary to facilitate cooperative group learning
• Understand the many options, functions, and types of group projects of varying lengths and purposes available for use in all subject areas
• Learn steps for planning, implementation, and obtaining support for group learning

Time Requirements
Teaching and Learning with Groups is a 13 week 3 credit graduate level or sixty hour professional development course taught online. Modules 1 through 8 will be completed one per week. Modules 9 and 10 will be completed over a five-week period so students will have time to revise and complete the final integration project.

Hardware & Computer Skills Requirements
Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows 95 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing skills and have internet access with an active e-mail account. Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how to use a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer or America Online's (AOL) browser. To download a browser at no cost, visit one of the following Web sites – Netscape.com; Microsoft.com and AOL.com.

Course Materials
The required textbook for this course is Circles of Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom, 4th ed. David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, & Edythe Johnson Holubec, Interaction Book Co., 1993. A variety of readings will be referenced throughout the course. Other supplemental readings will be provided.

Session Outline
Module 1: Overview of Issues About Group Learning
Contents:
  1. Recall Past Experiences With Group Learning
  2. Identify Concerns About Assigning Group Projects
  3. Brainstorm Issues Needing to be Addressed Before Assigning Group Work
  4. Identify Types of Cooperative Learning Groups
  5. Examine School Wide Issues Related to Group Work
  6. Understand Faculty Dynamics Which Support Group Action

Module 2: Cooperative, Competitive & Individualistic Approaches
Contents:
  1. Compare and Contrast 3 Approaches to Learning
  2. Identify Strengths and Weakness of Each Approach
  3. Identify Outcomes Best Achieved by Each Method
  4. Examine Research Findings Regarding Social Inter-Dependence
  5. Master 5 Essential Components of Successful Group Projects
  6. Discover 6 Teacher Benefits of Group Projects

Module 3: Benefits and Needs for Team Skills
Contents:
  1. Examine The Needs of Employers For Team Players
  2. Identify Interpersonal and Group Skills Needed by Students and Citizens
  3. Examine Benefits of Group Work to Students and Teachers
  4. Understand Effective Learning Research Regarding Different Forms of Teaching and Learning
  5. Understand Research on Achievement and Competitiveness
  6. Survey Psychological and Educational Roots of Cooperative Learning and Social Interdependence
  7. Survey History of Practical Implementation of Cooperative Learning
  8. Identify 7 Positive Outcomes of Cooperation

Module 4: Maximizing Individual Differences in Groups
Contents:
  1. Understand Challenges and Benefits of Different Personality Strengths in Groups
  2. Apply Learning Styles Research to Group Process and Lesson Design
  3. Teach Students to Appreciate and Utilize Member Differences

Module 5: Skills Needed by Students for Group Work
Contents:
  1. The 12 Inch Voice
  2. Listening and Accepting Differing Opinions and Ideas
  3. Negotiating Project Approaches and Tasks
  4. Keeping Focused and On-Task
  5. Constructive Confrontation and Conflict Resolution
  6. Learning 9 Needed Group Roles
  7. Roles of the Teacher as Facilitator and Supervisor

Module 6: Insuring Fair Participation & Grading of Group Projects
Contents:
  1. Identify 9 Forces Hindering Group Performance
  2. Ways to Structure Positive Interdependence
  3. Ways to Divide Group Work Roles Equally
  4. Grading Methods Which Tie Reward to Effort and Performance
  5. Survey Many Types of Assessments Including Performance-Based, Authentic, Total Quality Learning, Peer Assessment, Self-Rating
  6. Teaching Students How to Handle Problems Which Arise
  7. Group Processing Skills for Students and Teachers
  8. Group Celebrations as a Culminating Activity

Module 7: Many Structures, Many Outcomes
Contents:
  1. Ways Groups Can be Used to Achieve Learning Outcomes
  2. Deciding Group Size, Student Assignments, Room Arrangement and Group Roles
  3. Structuring Tasks, Outcomes, and Creating Common Goals
  4. Specifying Individual and Group Behaviors
  5. Identify Different Types of Cooperative Lessons

Module 8: Teacher Competencies To Facilitate Group Learning
Contents:
  1. From "Sage On The Stage" to "Guide On The Side"
  2. Teacher Skills and Behaviors: Teaching vs. Facilitating
  3. Monitoring and Intervening
  4. 8 Guidelines for Teacher Monitoring
  5. Providing Task Assistance and Social Skills
  6. Processing and Providing Closure
  7. "If You're Working Too Hard You're Not Letting The Students Learn It!" - Facilitating - Learning by Doing
  8. Ways to Make Cooperative Group Work Motivating
  9. Reasons Cooperative Learning is Worth the Effort

Module 9: Options, Functions & Types of Groups in All Subjects
Contents:
  1. Learn Informal and Formal Group Structures
  2. Examine 5 Long-Term Benefits of Group Work
  3. Integrating Types of Cooperative Learning in a Lesson or Unit
  4. 3 Essential Group Roles
  5. 4 Levels of Cooperative Skills
  6. 5 Steps in Teaching Cooperative Skills
  7. Examine Cooperative Learning Lessons for Various Subject Areas
  8. Learn Guidelines for Creating Lessons and Projects
  9. Ways of Sharing Products and Outcomes

Module 10: Planning, Implementation & Obtaining Support
Contents:
  1. Designing Lessons and Projects for Implementation
  2. Methods for Obtaining Professional Support and Assistance
  3. Selling the Program to Parents and Administrators
  4. 3 Key Activities of a Teaching Team
  5. 3 Steps for Creating a Cooperative School
  6. 7 Characteristics of a Cooperative School
  7. 5 Steps for Refining Cooperative Learning
  8. 5 Leadership Actions for School Improvement
  9. Start Small and Build on Successes

Grading

Assignment	Points	Grading Scale
Forum Participation	30	100 – 93	A
Reading Assignments	20	92 – 85	B
Final Integration Project	30	84 – 77	C
Final Exam	20
Total Points	100

Student Requirements

1. Actively participate in all Forum activities.

2. Complete all reading assignments. Keep a word-processed journal, reflecting upon the major ideas in the assigned readings and the application of those ideas in your school and classroom. This journal should have a minimum of five entries of 200-300 words in length.

3. Complete the Final Integration Project. Review research and literature on group-centered learning and identify several major findings or themes. Based on these key research themes, design a unit of study for your students. This unit should consist of five group-centered lessons, each containing a list of objectives and a description of activities and content.

4. Pass a final exam.

Student Academic Integrity
Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register
To register to take TEI's Teaching and Learning With Groups: Keys to Success online graduate course, go to the Course Registration page.