Thinking about Group Work - grappling with challenges

Partly inspired by attending workshops with instructional designers, this semester I"m launching (for the second time) a major group project to go along with their final essay in my face-to-face class at the end of the semester.  This week's readings gave me a lot of food for thought  about how to do it better (last semester I 'd say I had a 50% success rate and lots of "dissatisfied customers" - including both suckers & free riders) - and still more questions.   Wondering if y'all instructors out there had any insights?

 Here's my questions: After this week's readings in my instructional design course about group work & best practices, I'm going to implement a bunch of these
- explicitly stating benefits of group work, explicitly talking about group work skills & norms, giving teams time to reflect on their own process, making the assessment process very clear, and including self & peer assessment as part of the grade, upfront..  (I'm also building this last 1/3 of the course like a blended course, with lots being done online, so design thought going into that, too).   However, I still have questions, for example:

•  What to do about genuinely mixed abilities?  I have a pretty huge range in my class, from organized, competent writers to smart ESL students struggling with language (and inclusion!!!) issues, to disorganized, disengaged, & struggling writers.   The assignment is set up so that each students writes (and is assessed) on their own individual paper at the end, but the group work together as a kind of support team to create discussion questions, peer reviews & assignment templates shared with the class. (Because I want them to head towards increasing independence, I will be stepping back pretty far on this assignment).
•   I also have a mix of engagements: by the end of the course, some students have a pretty crappy record for turning in drafts, showing up for class, or submitting things on time.  I often reach out & work with these students, helping them finish the course (they are older & often "real life" of work , family, illness, stress, etc. intervene in their success).  But I don't want to saddle a group with someone who is a bit checked out (or already overwhelmed).

Here's some solutions that I thought of, none perfect: 

1) simply don't allow disengaged students to be part of a group.  Hard-working but low-skilled students seem fine, for they'll work hard and pitch in as much as they can, and I think their teammates will see that - but folks who can't even show up...that's just not fair.  These students could work with me individually, but then these students are completely ostracized from our class activities!

2) put all students into groups, but require that any low-performing student (for any reason) do two things: meet with a university tutor once a week as well as meeting with me once a week (maybe a small group tutorial when other students are doing "blended" work from home?)

 

3) Allow students to eject students who are not showing up/doing work.   I think I will definitely do this, and clearly announce it at the beginning.  At the same time, what would I do with, for example, a student that hated her group and wanted to work alone - as I encountered last semester.  Should she be penalized for opting out? (hopefully some of the group work building skills at the beginning could mitigate this situation!)

4) Another option would be to acknowledge this mix at the beginning, saying something like: "people are at different places in this course.  If you know that you personally have struggled to complete assignments so far, or know that it will be difficult for you to complete assignments going forward for the next 4 weeks, be honest with yourself & groupmates.  Consider stepping back from roles where everyone else's work depends on yours, keeping in mind that a smaller role will mean a lower grade."  This seems like a downer for morale, but it is a realistic option would help avoid students who were engaging in magical thinking: taking on key group roles and then vanishing, leaving their groups struggling to put the pieces together.

Final questions: how ​should​ assessment work here?   When should I have them self & peer evaluate?  Once a week, in the small journal entries I'm going to have them complete?  Once, at the end?   (Vital question: how do I not make this a total pain for me to grade!?) Also, I know that effort & contribution will have an impact on their grade for the group project....but what else am I grading?  How well the group worked together & overcame problems?   Simply completing assignments (submitting discussion questions on time, etc.) or also the quality of those assignments?  There will be weekly group assignments - if each group member is taking responsibility for one or two, and some are better than others, how will that be graded?  

Brainstorming these questions is actually helping me think about the answers already!  I can see "B" level points for just submitting everything, and moving it to an "A" or "C" for exceptionally good or bad quality...assuming that each group will have stronger & weaker students, this should even out...and I can include a grade for "Group work skills" relating to how well they plan, work together, support each other, overcome problems, etc.

I'm inspired now to go re-work (again!) the grading criteria & instructions for this project.  I'll report back and let y'all know what I decided and how it turns out!