Successful group tasks and PBL incorporate specific aspects:

1. INTERDEPENDENCE

a. No Divide and Conquer

i. Tends to happen when task is too easy or involves heavy writing

ii. Inhibits development of team dynamic skills

b. Required to “sink or swim” together

c. Instructor needs to focus on structure of task to ensure all parts are interconnected, which will force students to need to work together

2. INDIVIDUAL & GROUP ACCOUNTABILITY

a. Grades for both individual & group; influenced by peer evaluations

b. Eliminate free loaders/social loafers

c. Held responsible for own learning and contribution, as well as that of others

d. Instructor should explicitly require pre-work and input from all members as evidence within the group work process

3. PROMOTE INTERACTION

a. More group cohesiveness happens when groups are required to make a concrete decision based on the analysis of a complex issue or come to a consensus

b. Require a broad range of intellectual skills to engage in problem-based tasksi. Promotes each other’s strengths as valuable contributions

c. Do real work together

d. Instructor needs to provide guidelines/expectations for participation within the group & may need to assist with establishing roles within groups

4. BALANCE CHALLENGE WITH SUPPORT

a. Lack of balance can result in discouragement/frustration OR boredom/lack of seeing value

b. Challenge: difficulty of task; difficulty of underlying concepts that need to be mastered to accomplish task

c. Supports: structure; task that is concrete & well-delineated; regular feedback, interim deadlines, scaffolding, available resources, time with instructor