Group Work: B2+

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Planning your group assignment (#ulink_22f7d353-ee41-5c8b-a4b7-75e0e17cd76a)

Aims

understand how to interpret your assignment: what you are being asked to do (#litres_trial_promo)

understand the requirements of the task (#litres_trial_promo)

use a brainstorming technique to generate ideas (#litres_trial_promo)

learn techniques for scheduling your work (#litres_trial_promo)

recognize the importance of setting clear goals (#litres_trial_promo)

Quiz

Self-evaluation

Read the statements and circle the answers that are true for you.

Now check the key for comments on this exercise.

Understanding the requirements of the task

It is essential to understand what your lecturer wants you to do in any group work assignment. One way of doing this is by asking questions about the assignment. Look at this task for Tourism students.

For example:Create a two-week adventure package holiday aimed at the young family market (two professional adults, two young children). Produce a marketing brochure to appear in travel agent outlets that includes details of destination, duration, accommodation, activities and costs. You will be asked to present your package holiday to the class and answer questions about it.

You can use ‘wh-questions’ to help you to analyse the question and understand exactly what is required. It is a good idea to try and come up with questions using all seven question words.

What? When? Who? Why? Where? Which? How?

You can also use the following questions stems.

Can we …? Should we …? Do we have to …?

The same questions would help you to understand the task when working alone. However, when working in a group, you have the opportunity to discuss them with others in the group and, between you, arrive at a thorough understanding of the task.

Exercise 1

Read the example task on page 28 (#u97c67698-164a-477c-a9f4-6d76785a9017). How many questions can you write to help you to understand the task? Think about the different elements of the task. Some questions have been given to help you.

Now check the key for answers and comments on this exercise.

Understanding the purpose of a task

Glossary

aim The aim of something that you do is the purpose for which you do it or the result that it is intended to achieve.

learning outcome A learning outcome is what a student is expected to know, understand or be able to demonstrate at the end of a period of study.

fundamental If one thing is fundamental to another, it is absolutely necessary to it, and the second thing cannot exist, succeed, or be imagined without it.

You will have a better chance of doing the task well if you understand why you have been asked to do it. You should therefore spend some time thinking about the purpose of the task, as well as what you think you will learn from it. You will find it helpful to think about:

the aims of the module

the learning outcomes of the module.

You can usually find the aims and learning outcomes of your module in the documentation that goes with it. Many students do not pay attention to them and miss an important opportunity to learn how to study more effectively.

Look at the aims and learning outcomes for a module in Healthcare Studies below.

For example:

You should refer to the module aims and learning outcomes while doing your coursework to make sure you are focusing on the correct content. When you review your coursework, you should ask yourself if you have met the outcomes for the work you were set. For coursework in Healthcare Studies you could ask yourself the following questions.

Have I analysed the functions of the healthcare system?

Have I shown that I understand the purpose of the healthcare system and described how it is organized and the politics involved?

Have I evaluated whether or not the healthcare system works well and satisfies patients and society?

Have I found, read and referred to a wide range of sources in my coursework?

Tips

Try to look at assignments that previous students have handed in; these are sometimes kept in the university library or in the faculty office, so you can ask your librarian or lecturer if they are available.

Use previous assignments carefully; they may not be very good examples of what you have to do.

Brainstorming

As already discussed in Chapter 1 (#u763a3b7a-4657-50a8-a872-cc09c639740e), brainstorming is a useful technique for coming up with ideas. The technique involves putting forward any ideas connected with the subject you are thinking about; each idea generates other ideas that can be noted down until you have a list of loosely connected ideas. You will be able to use some of these, but you will certainly not use all of them. After brainstorming you would normally decide which ideas you can work with and write them into your plan.

Look at how this process might work if you decided to brainstorm your ideas in the assignment below.

Glossary

appoint If you appoint someone to a job or official position, you choose them for it.

For example:Design a new product for your student university shop. It should be practical in nature, bear the university logo and be affordable to students to buy as a product to use or as a souvenir.

Brainstorming a new product for the university shop

1 If possible, make use of a flip chart or a sheet of A3 paper attached to the wall and a marker pen.

2 Appoint a secretary.

3 Agree a set time period (five minutes is about right).

4 Start making suggestions about new products; the secretary writes these down in large writing so everyone can see the ideas.

5 Group members should not comment on each other’s ideas but just try to build on each suggestion.

6 At the end of the set time period, take a group rest.

7 Spend time reading quietly through all the ideas.

8 Through group discussion, cross out the least popular ideas and leave the most popular ones.

9 Agree on the best idea from the remaining popular ones. Try to include everybody’s opinion and adopt one idea that everybody is happy with.

Exercise 2

Brainstorm the task on page 31 (#litres_trial_promo) on your own for five minutes, noting down everything that comes to mind. When you finish, think about the possibilities of each suggestion. Then you will be ready to make a final list of good ideas.

It might be helpful if you attach a piece of paper to the wall so you can brainstorm and make notes standing up. This helps many people to think more freely. Keep brainstorming for the full amount of time. Ideas build slowly, one idea leading to another; good ideas often come at the end of the process.

Now check the key for comments on this exercise.

Making a schedule for your group work

Glossary

deadline A deadline is a time or date before which a particular task must be finished or a particular thing must be done.

collate When you collate pieces of information, you gather them all together and examine them.

It is always important to finish your tasks on time. In order to do this, you have to understand what tasks need to be done, who is going to do them and when they need to be finished. One way of doing this is by using a Gantt chart. This can show the following information in graphic form: a list of sub-tasks, the date when they have to be done and who is responsible for doing them.

Look at the group assignment below.

For example:Conduct a survey among city centre shoppers to discover the strength of popular support for a new indoor shopping mall in the city centre. Present your findings in a written report of 2,500 words by the deadline given on the front of this sheet.

The first stage is to work together to write a list of sub-tasks for the assignment. For the group assignment above you might produce a list of sub-tasks.

1 Write questions for your group to ask the shoppers.

2 Design a survey feedback sheet to record answers.

3 Carry out the survey in the city centre.

4 Collate all the answers, in other words, put them all together and get some clear data.

5 Draft the different parts of the report: an introduction, a methodology section, a results section, a discussion section and a conclusion.

6 Add some charts to give a visual representation of the answers.

7 Review and edit the report.

8 Write a final draft of the report.

9 Print out, bind and submit the report.

Glossary

methodology A methodology is a system of methods and principles for doing something, for example for carrying out research.

The next stage is to allocate group members for the sub-tasks.

For example:

After allocating roles, you need to add the time when the sub-tasks should be done, as shown in the table on page 34 (#litres_trial_promo).

Finally, you can put all this information into a chart format (similar to a Gantt chart).

For example:

Exercise 3

Read about the group assignment below and fill in the table as a work chart for Sarah, Nou and Fahad. You might wish to put this into a Gantt chart using appropriate software.

Sarah, Nou and Fahad have five days to complete a group work assignment: making a video of their university campus as a guide to new students. On the afternoon of the fifth day, they are going to show the video to the class and give a presentation justifying and explaining their video. They met on Monday morning to plan their week’s work and decided the following:

On Monday afternoon they will split up and each group member will research and visit the locations they have chosen to focus on.