Group Work Activities

Click below for:

Group Work Activities and enabling strategies

• Discussion and enabling strategies
• Role Play and enabling strategies
• Problem Based Learning and enabling strategies

Adaptations to Assessment

Description of Group Work Activities

Group work is a form of cooperative learning which aims to develop student’s knowledge, generic skills, (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking skills) and attitudes. The ability to participate effectively in group work or team work is seen as a desirable employability skill and should be considered to be part of every learner’s educational experience.

Group work can be a means for acknowledging and utilising an individual learner’s additional strengths and expertise.

Skills required for Group Work:

• Teamwork
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Time management
• Negotiation
• Delegation
• Co-operation
• Leadership

Enabling strategies

These should include consideration of the following:

• Physical environment: arrange the room so that all learners can see each other;
• Discuss with learners the various skills involved in successful group work;
• Staff should offer support to encourage the development of inclusive management strategies by the group;
• Disabled learners may have to organise support workers during group work. The group will need to be sensitive and supportive of these requirements;
• Encourage all learners to be well organised by requesting work plans, timetables and agendas as part of the assessment;
• Encourage your learners to refer any problems early to avoid the group task failing;
• Establish clear referral procedures for groups and individuals to use when they feel they cannot solve a problem on their own;
• Don’t always allow groups to select their own members, when appropriate, allocate learners to groups;
• Publish clear guidelines stating your expectations of learners undertaking group work;
• Ensure they understand their responsibilities as a group, to the group and to themselves;
• Ensure that all group members are sure about their roles in the group, possible roles include: note taker; chair etc;
• Either assign specific roles or allow learners to choose;
• Change team members from time to time;
• Address prejudice sensitively, firmly and quickly;
• Vary the nature of the assignments limited to group work;
• Presentations: give students good guidelines and give them clear rules and criteria by which they’ll be assessed e.g. Poster presentations; PowerPoint presentations; Individual follow up assessments;
• On completion, ask learners how they solved any problems;
• Ask learners to evaluate what they learnt from working in a group;
• Ask learners to identify any transferable skills they feel that they have developed as a result of group work;
• Ask learners to identify new subject specific knowledge gained through working in a group.

Group Tasks or Assignments

Problems associated with group tasks and group assignments tend to be similar for most learners but may be more serious for disabled learners. There are a variety of problems disabled learners may have to manage when participating in group work:

• prejudice from other group members;
• communication difficulties;
• poor organisation and time keeping;
• inaccessible physical environment.

The responsibility to organise and manage the group is often seen as an essential component of group work which means that staff may be reluctant to intervene when the group fails. To ensure that disabled learners are included, your systems must operate to encourage the group to practise inclusion.

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Discussion

A discussion is a dialogue which consists of exchanges and expression of ideas, opinions and knowledge. They can be variable ranging from a structured learning experience to an unplanned opportunity to consider ideas.

Enabling strategies

• Consider the physical environment, for a successful discussion everybody needs to be able to see each other (especially those with hearing impairments who need to lip read) so arrange the room in a horseshoe or circle formation.
• Check that there is room for wheel chairs users and ensure that they are integral to the group not ‘parked’ at the edge of the room.
• Check there are no obstacles that a visually impaired student might trip over.
• Provide a stimulus to start discussion.
• Establish some ground rules at the start of the session e.g. only one person can speak at a time; no interrupting; no offensive or inappropriate statements or actions.
• Ensure that students have equitable opportunities to contribute to the discussion by encouraging and facilitating the discussion.
• Manage the discussion effectively by keeping the group focused on the main subject. Conclude the discussion by summarising the key points that have been raised.
• If someone with a hearing impairment needs the speaker to use a microphone, ensure that you establish a system for passing this around the group.

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Role play

Role play involves the creation of a situation in which learners act out particular roles, this is usually followed by a discussion and an analysis. One of the strengths of using role play is that it can simulate the real world without any real threats. It can enable the learner to experience how they might feel in a situation and the emotions they may experience.

Not all students will want to participate in role play, as it can be threatening to those who need to feel emotionally safe. This may particularly apply to those with certain impairments/conditions such as people with mental health difficulties, for example.  These students should not be compelled to participate in role play if they find the situation too difficult but if this is a core part of the course/assignment, you will need to find an alternative activity to allow them to demonstrate the learning outcomes.

Enabling strategies

• Preparation: produce role cards or information sheets, giving all the required information the student will need to act out their roles. Remember that you may have to provide this information in a variety of formats to meet the disabled learners’ needs, e.g. Braille, enlarged font size or on disc.
• Prepare the physical environment, use props if available but be aware of the difficulties these may pose for those with mobility, sensory or manual dexterity difficulties.
• Monitor the role play to ensure that appropriate levels of behaviour and interaction are maintained. Intervene if necessary, to ensure the fullest participation of disabled learners.
• After the role play, it is important to debrief the participants so that the discussion can take place.
• Remember to discuss the emotional elements – be sensitive to the potential distress of some topics to those with mental health difficulties.
• Analyse and evaluate the role play. Summarise the key learning points and relate to theory. Remember to provide this information in a variety of formats depending on the needs of those in the group.

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Problem Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that challenges students to "learn how to learn, "working cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems and reflect on their experiences. PBL begins with establishing the problem and asks the learners to identify what knowledge and skills they already have but also what additional learning they need in order to solve the problem.”

(P Scales Teaching in the Life Long Sector 2008 Open University)

Enabling strategies

• State the problems clearly and in the range of formats needed by those in the group (e.g. in enlarged font size or on disc).
• Decide on a time frame for completion but be aware of those who may need some additional time because of their disability.
• Decide on the degree of autonomy involved for teacher/learners, organisation and formal or informal. Intervene if necessary to ensure the fullest participation of disabled learners.
• Formal groups should have Agendas and Minutes of meetings.
• Let the groups decide if they want to break into sub groups and report back.
• Build in taught sessions to act as a stimulus and to increase further learning.
• Highlight examples of the application of learning.
• When the problem has been solved, ask learners how they solved the problem.
• Ask them to evaluate their acquisition of subject specific material and transferable skills and knowledge.

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Assessment

Remember that people with the same impairments may need different adjustments to practice to enable them to engage with the assessment process and demonstrate their learning.

When assessing your learners, be very clear about exactly what it is you are testing. For example, in asking learners to write an essay in an exam, are you testing the learners’ knowledge and understanding of the topic, or the ability to write clearly and precisely? Decide what you are assessing and how many marks are apportioned for each element (knowledge or good writing, memory or understanding)

Consider why you are assessing in a particular way, and whether another method may be more inclusive. In some cases, the exact format of the assessment is critical to the demonstration of the intended learning outcome. For example a course in hairdressing would require a practical demonstration of competence; but, where possible, allow your learners to have a choice about how they demonstrate their knowledge and skills; in other words allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skill in a variety of formats.

There may be occasions where you have provided the disabled learner with an alternative assessment (e.g. a blind learner may need to give their answers orally rather than in writing). In such cases, you should ensure the integrity of the alternative and make sure that the disabled learner is judged on their ability to meet the criteria – providing neither a disadvantage nor advantage over other learners.

Adaptations to Assessment

• Some students may rely on equipment to meet the needs of the assessment, whether in a formal examination environment, or the less formal setting in which assignments are prepared for continuous assessment.
• Consider how much time will be needed for completing assignments.
• Some disabled learners will need extra time to complete their assessments.
• Some disabled learners who are working in a group may need extra time to complete the assignment.
• Can work be dictated onto tape or can the student give an oral presentation instead?
• Will the learner require an assistant or a scribe?
• Students with visual difficulties may require examination papers in formats such as Braille, tape or enlarged print.
• The questions and/or titles of the assignment may need to be provided on disk.
• A tape recorder, computer, scribe or assistant, may be needed to enable a disabled learner to complete their assignment.
• Be clear about the role and involvement of equipment or an assistant; ensure that the student maintains control and is fully responsible for producing their assignments.

Click here for Adjustments for Assessments taken under Examination Conditions

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Challenges

• Cognition
• Empathy
• Hearing
• Information Processing
• Language/Comprehension
• Managing Anxiety/Stress
• Memory/Recall
• Motivation
• Organisation
• Speech
• Stamina
• Vision

Case Studies

• Group Work Activities and Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• Group Work Activities and Hearing Impairment
• Group Work Activities and Medical Conditions/Unseen Disabilities