/Office of the Provost
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

 

Facilitate Group Work and Collaboration

Interactive videos can significantly benefit learners because they turn passive viewing into an active and personalized experience. Interactive elements like quizzes, clickable prompts, and decision points demand attention and active participation.

Collaboration significantly benefits learners because it shifts the focus from solitary study to active, social construction of knowledge. Working in teams demands that students negotiate meaning, articulate their ideas clearly, and navigate diverse perspectives. These interactions mirror real-world professional environments, transforming abstract concepts into practical, shared experiences.

Requiring learners to collaborate on tasks reinforces learning through peer-to-peer teaching and collective problem-solving. This process of articulating thoughts and defending arguments helps cement information in long-term memory, leading to deeper comprehension and higher-order critical thinking than individual reading or lecturing alone.

Additionally, collaborative activities foster essential soft skills, such as communication, conflict resolution, and project management. When properly structured, group work reduces isolation in online or hybrid environments, building a strong sense of community and accountability among learners.

 How Do I Get Started?

Pick which tool you'll be using to facilitate group work and collaboration. The university has licenses to:

How Can I Enhance the Activity?

Before assigning groups, clearly articulate the collective goal of the project and why collaboration is necessary to achieve it. Ensure the task is complex enough to actually require multiple perspectives, rather than a project that could easily be done by a single student.

Consider how groups are formed and structured to ensure all students have a voice. Provide guidance on inclusive communication practices and offer alternative ways for students to contribute if they face scheduling or accessibility barriers.

Have teams co-create a group contract at the start of the project. This document should outline communication channels, meeting schedules, roles, and agreed-upon timelines.

Do not just grade the final product; break the project into smaller, graded milestones and/or institute a check-in. This keeps groups on track, prevents procrastination, and allows you to intervene before a team dynamic breaks down.

Build in opportunities for students to reflect on their team's dynamics and their own performance throughout the project, not just at the very end. Early reflection allows students to course-correct and improve their collaborative skills in real-time.

Design grading rubrics that evaluate both the final team output and individual contributions. This ensures that every student's effort is fairly recognized and assessed.

Additional Resources

Jaiswal, J. (2022, Jan. 18). Group Work. Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Blog). 

Bell, K. (2022, Mar. 22). Overcoming Challenges Associated With Group Work. Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Blog). 

If you have and questions or suggestions for additional resources, please reach out by emailing us at celt@stonybrook.edu.