Learning With Others

Why Form a Study Group?

Besides allowing you to interact with your classmates and build connections, there are a lot of benefits to study groups:

• Procrastination-buster: knowing you're meeting with your group can push you to complete readings and assignments that you may not want to do otherwise

• New perspectives: everyone will have a slightly different take on the course material, and they will likely use slightly different learning strategies; seeing how other people approach the course can expand your own understanding

• Reinforcement: talking about the course with other people can solidify what you know, and it can help you identify what you need to review

• Motivation: you and your classmates can cheer each other on throughout the term

How To Start a Study Group

Sometimes you'll already know people in the class and can reach out to them. Other times, you may not know anyone, or you may not know how to contact them. Below are some things to consider and try.

1. Know thyself

Study groups need to be a good fit for everyone to work well, so a good starting point is to think about what a good fit would look like for you:

• What do you want to get out of a study group?

  • • For example, do you want to enhance your understanding? Get an A? Reduce stress?

• What can you commit?

  • • How much time do you have to spare? Effective study groups usually require some level of prep work, so how much are you willing to do?

• What strengths and interests do you bring to the group, and what would you like others to contribute?

  • • Do you excel at calculations and want to work with people who can help you tackle word problems? Do you want to complement your tendency to focus on details with group members who are good at identifying the big picture? Are you a pro at organizing events but tend to go off topic during discussions?

How to Have an Effective Session

To make the most of everyone's study time, it can help for you and your groupmates to create some structure for your sessions.

Figure out the logistics

During your first meeting, or even beforehand, you and your group members will need to figure out some basics:

• How often will you meet, and for how long?

  • • The most common setup is a single one-hour study session each week, but there is nothing stopping you from meeting more or less often

• When will you meet?

  • • If everyone is really busy and trading emails is getting a bit confusing, you can use something like a Doodle poll to find a common time.

• How will you meet?

  • • Will you book a room in the Library or sit in Tegler? Send a Google Meet invite to everyone? Start a WhatsApp group? Set something up on Discord?

• What will you do?

  • • What will be the format of your sessions (see below for options)?

Establish group norms

To help your sessions go smoothly, decide on some norms or expectations for everyone in the group. Some things to consider include:

• What should people do when they can't make a session? Should they contact the whole group? A single member? Is it ok if they just don't show up without telling anyone?

• How should members communicate outside of the sessions? Will there be a shared email or chat thread? Is the thread for discussing anything at all, or is it reserved for study group-related business?

• How will you make sure everyone has an equal chance to participate and is held equally accountable for contributing?

• How will you treat each other (think about your negative group project experiences, and what the group would need to do to avoid that)?

Assign roles

Study groups help you divide work among multiple people, but it helps if every member isn't trying to do the same thing. Assigning roles can help you all work together productively.

You can set roles based on people's strengths or have everyone take on a different role each time you meet. Roles will depend in part on your group's makeup and goals, but at the very least you will need to have a leader to open and close the session.

Set an agenda

It may seem a bit formal for a group of classmates studying together, but having an agenda can help you stay on track. It doesn't have to be detailed, but for every session make sure each member knows:

• When the session is happening, how long it will be, and how you will be meeting

• When you will be having breaks

• The session's goal (e.g., discuss last week's readings, prepare for the midterm)

• Any activities planned (see below for some examples)

• What everyone needs to do to prepare (e.g., finish the readings, create three practice questions)

• If you are rotating roles in the group, who is doing each role

Study Group Activities

Finding a group, setting up a time to meet, establishing group norms, and setting a goal are all necessary for a successful study group. But what do you actually do during your session? Planning activities that match what you want to accomplish can keep your sessions from turning into disorganized socialization. You don't have to pick one of the formats below, but they give you an idea of some of the ways you can run a group study session.

Reading seminar

Group members meet to discuss a reading from class. The discussion can take a few different forms, such as:

• TQE (Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies): The group discusses their general opinions or understanding of the text, any unanswered questions they have about it, and anything that they found surprising or that made them rethink something else they had learned. Members can use pre-determined question stems or take a more flexible approach.

• Socratic Seminar: Members ask the group open-ended questions intended to delve deeper into the text, and build on each others' responses to develop a more critical understanding. Each member can come to the session with one or two questions prepared, or they can take turns being the primary questioner.

• Mini presentations: Each member presents a short summary of a different reading (or a different part or aspect of the same reading) and discusses how it relates to the course, then asks the group some questions to elicit their thoughts.

Useful for: Courses with a lengthy reading list, texts that cover highly complex or abstract topics, courses focused on interpreting text (e.g., English)

Jigsaw

Each member takes responsibility for a part of the course material (a lecture, reading, topic, etc.) and learns it well enough that they can serve as the group "expert." They summarize the material for the group, answer questions the other members might have, and ask their groupmates questions to test their understanding. The group can create a comprehensive study guide by collating each member's notes and questions.

Useful for: Content-heavy or complex courses