One of the best teaching strategies used by professors in higher education is creating student groups.  But, have you noticed that when your students are put into groups, they haven’t a clue on how to interact and work together.  It’s like watching a group of teenagers talking all at once.

So, let’s discuss a formal way on how to set up groups and provide students with a structure from which they can begin collaborating.

Groups can be assembled for at least one class period and may stay together for several weeks working on extended projects. These groups are where students learn and become comfortable applying the different techniques of working together cooperatively. (Johnson, et al., 2006, p.2:2)

Johnson & Johnson (1998) claim that “placing people in the same room, seating them together, telling them that they are a cooperative group, and advising them to ‘cooperate’, does not make them a cooperative group” (p.15). A cooperative learning environment exist if groups are structured in such a way that group members co-ordinate activities to facilitate one another’s learning (Ballantine & Larres, 2007). Use these five stages to engage students in group learning:

1. First stage is to ensure interdependence. Establish roles for your student.
2. Second stage is face-to-face interaction. Encourage students to interact verbally with one another on learning tasks (Johnson & Johnson, 2008) exchange opinions, explain things. (Ballantine & Larres, 2007).
3.  Third stage is accountability. Overall performance of the group is assessed and the results are given back to all group members to compare against a standard of performance.
4. Forth stage is Interpersonal and social skills.
5. Fifth stage is element of cooperative learning

See the full article at: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1067527.pdf

Additional resources on empowering groups.