Update: my plan for group collaboration this semester

In an earlier post, I lamented how poorly things worked the last time I tried group assignments in my course (and got some helpful feedback in the comments section!  thanks!). In another post, I talked about new insights I've gained learning about different kinds of collaboration by being a learner myself.  

Here's how I've tweaked things for this semester!

 For one class, I've scaled WAY back on the the group aspect of their third paper.  The groups are going to be "consultancy groups" - groups of people working on the same paper topic, and most of their time together will be devoted to (somewhat structured) activities around discussing the readings or completing peer reviews.
 I've increased the time they're required to be in class for this assignment, (so less risk of flaky students not showing up), made the groups a bit bigger (ditto), and made them as a group only responsible for a weekly report and submitting discussion questions.  In class, they'll also spend part of their time working with people NOT in their group, where they'll work on small activities that pertain to ALL their assignments (Tip O' the hat to Rebecca Hogue for that suggestion).  In the end, each group will also be responsible for a micro-presentation and handout, but these will be reflective & process-based: they'll be documenting struggles and challenges they faced in their work on this paper (both individually and as a group), and how they dealt with those challenges.  My idea was that every student could play a part in that: they could discuss a range of challenges faced by students with a range of abilities (??? - I'll let you know how it goes!).

Hopefully these tweaks will help them keep their focus where I want it: on the challenge of writing a difficult academic paper without much instructional support.  By providing class time specifically to discuss the topic together, hopefully that will decrease the resentment of more-skilled students, and open them up to hearing and learning from peers.

In my other class, I've simply made collaboration on the final project optional.  I'll recommend it, but students will be able to choose their collaborators - or work alone if they want.  

More on all of this later, but even writing this blog post it's exciting to see how much I've learned through the combination of being a learner AND hearing/reading "expert" opinions and thoughts on the topic - and being able to bounce those experiences and concepts off of each other.  In some ways, being a learner has reminded me how tremendously important it is to see things from the learner's point of view - and how easy it is to lose sight of that as an instructor (i.e. ignore genuine student complaints or distress as "complaining" or "whining").

I'll let y'all know how it goes!