Ask CTLT
QUESTION: I’m going to use a group assignment in one of my classes this semester, but I’m worried about “slackers.” I’ve had this problem in the past when one or two students have ended up “carrying” the group, but I’m not sure how to avoid it. Any ideas?
ANSWER:
“Slackers” or “freeloaders” in groups always seems to be the number one concern not only of faculty designing group assignments, but also of students receiving those assignments.
The truth is, we’ve all been in groups where one member didn’t pull his/her weight, and we all know how frustrating that can be. Often the temptation for faculty members is to throw up our hands and say, “You know what? That’s life! I’ve been on committees like that, and I just had to deal with it. My students need to learn to deal with it as well!” If we do that, however, we are bypassing some of the important pedagogical potential of the assignment.
As educators, our job is not only to teach the “content” that students learn by completing a group assignment, but also to teach the “process” of successful group interaction. After all, “collaboration” has been identified as one of four key literacies for the 21st Century (Beers), so, by extension, allowing students to leave our institution without being prepared to collaborate effectively is to allow them to remain essentially “illiterate” in some important ways.
So, how do we not only solve the “slacker” problem, but also give students the tools they need to deal with it in the future?
Here are some ideas:
- Address the problem BEFORE it occurs.
When I assign a “high stakes” group assignment, I have students spend some class time in their groups brainstorming “characteristics of great group members” and “characteristics of nightmare group members.” They then use those results to create an evaluation instrument (a rubric, checklist, or other tool) that they can use to evaluate themselves and their peers as group members at the conclusion of the assignment. And I pay close attention to those evaluations when I assign group participation grades to individual students. (These are separate from the group’s grade for the assignment, but carry enough weight to be significant.)
- Develop strategies for addressing the problem WHEN it occurs.
I also ask students to work as a class to make a list of “problems we’ve encountered in previous group projects.” Once we have a fairly comprehensive list, I ask each group to come up with at least three strategies for dealing with each of the problems the class has identified. “Tell the teacher” can’t be on the list; that’s an option reserved for use after all three of the other strategies have been tried and failed. “Group members who don’t do their fair share” always makes the list, and students are actually quite adept at devising constructive strategies for dealing with the problem when they’re thinking about it in the abstract, not in the heat of the moment.
- Have each group member maintain an “Individual Contribution Log.”
Sometimes “slackers” are actually contributing more than is apparent to the other members of the group, and that becomes obvious when each member keeps a contribution log. These logs are used to record (a) the time each member spends working on the project (specific times/dates must be recorded), (b) what was accomplished during that time (again, the more specific the better), and (c) the initials of a fellow group member who is willing to vouch for the fact that the time was spent and/or the work was completed. If there’s a question about an individual’s contributions to the group, the group can have a meeting at which members share and compare their logs. The logs also contribute to each individual’s participation grade.
- Go “high-tech.”
The advent of Web 2.0 tools like wikis and blogs provides “high tech” options for tracking individual contributions to a group project. When a project is completed using a wiki, the wiki keeps an easily accessible record of the contributions by individual members. When group members blog about the work they are doing, the record is there for all to see--sometimes complete with photographs or other artifacts as evidence. (Blogging is also a form of reflection that aids learning so this option gives a lot of “bang for your buck.”)
Whatever you do, don’t let concerns about slackers dampen your enthusiasm for assigning cooperative and/or collaborative learning activities. Study after study has demonstrated the efficacy of cooperative/collaborative learning; it’s too important a pedagogical tool to ignore!
