April 29 TLCoP: Conceptualizing, structuring, managing group work assignments

Purdue instructors in West Lafayette and Indianapolis are invited to the final session of the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice (TLCoP) for spring 2024 featuring a showcase of three instructional approaches to group assignments, Mon., April 29, noon-1 p.m. The Zoom session will explore how group work is conceptualized, structured, and managed in Purdue courses, particularly those with large enrollment. Please pre-register to receive connection information.

Collaborative learning strategies like group work are supported by theories and research across curricula, particularly with advances in active learning classroom design, educational technologies, and both onsite and remote connectivity. Recent developments in artificial intelligence may add another affordance to students working together. This session will use several core considerations to guide the conversation:

• Conceptualization – What are the affordances that group work provides in your course? Are they strategies to achieve learning outcomes or embedded directly into those outcomes? How is “group work” defined in your course and assignments? How do you generate new ideas for group work; does artificial intelligence play a role?
• Structuring – How do you make groups? What are the learning outcomes and deliverables of some of your group activities? What are your expectations of the work generated?
• Managing – How do you organize and support your students’ group work? What tools/technologies do you use to facilitate these activities?

Following are invited speakers. Please bring your ideas and questions for discussion.

Beatriz Castro, lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, supervises the recitation component of BIOL203 and 204, Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II, respectively, with more than 1,000 students. Students work in groups of four to five to answer applied questions about the lecture content. She will share the multiple steps in her process, which provides opportunities for discussion of cases and submission of answers to a quiz as a group.

Kate Zipay, assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources area at the Mitchell E. Daniels School of Business, will share how she uses group work starting with the first few weeks of class to help develop a class culture of connection, trust, and support. This includes relying on each other for “What did I miss?”-type questions. Students also work in class in groups on module assessments, completing the assessments as a group to facilitate conversation, healthy disagreement, social responsibility, and coordination.

Lindsay Hamm, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Sociology and the College of Liberal Arts Cornerstone program, will talk about technology she uses to facilitate student interactions and multiple check-ins. She is continually exploring how to form and support teams in her large courses.

All members of Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis instructional communities are encouraged to pre-register to receive the Zoom connection information.

TLCoP is a program of Innovative Learning, Purdue West Lafayette’s hub approach to connect instructors in West Lafayette and Indianapolis to the resources they need to engage students, develop courses in any instructional modality, and enhance learning across the University. Members include the Center for Instructional Excellence, Libraries and the School of Information Studies and Purdue University Online. To learn more, visit www.purdue.edu/innovativelearning or email InnovativeLearningTeam@purdue.edu.