Glossary
infrastructure The infrastructure of a country, society, or organization consists of the basic facilities such as transport, communications, power supplies, and buildings, which enable it to function.
brainstorm If a group of people brainstorm, they have a meeting in which they all put forward as many ideas and suggestions as they can think of.
negotiate If people negotiate with each other, they talk about a problem or a situation in order to solve the problem or complete the arrangement.
As we have discussed, group work will help you to develop your teamwork skills, and teamwork skills are important for working effectively with other students. If you have good teamwork skills, you will be able to work collaboratively; your group will achieve more and your marks will be higher. Furthermore, specific marks for teamwork are often given for group assignments.
Look at the teamwork skills involved in the following group assignment.
For example: Set up and run a project for the design and implementation of an infrastructure project of your choice.
Task stages | Teamwork skills you will practise |
Deciding what infrastructure project your group will work on | BrainstormingListening to othersMaking suggestionsPutting forward a point of viewNegotiatingMaking group decisions |
Making a list of student roles and responsibilities needed to complete the assignment and sharing them out | Problem-solvingNegotiatingPutting forward an opinion and supporting itAllocating responsibilitiesRecognizing the strengths of others |
Drawing up a plan of the project | Problem-solvingHelping each otherMaking suggestionsSharing ideasCollaborating |
These are just some of the teamwork skills you might use, but there are many more (see Appendix 4 for a complete list). You will need to practise and use these skills when you work with others.
Tips
Recognize that whenever your lecturer asks you to do something, there is a good reason for it.
Reflect on what you are learning every time you do a task or assignment in order to get better marks.
Exercise 3
Read the assignments below. Which ones would be good for individual work, and which ones would benefit from teamwork? Write I if you think they are good for individual work and G if they would benefit from group work. What teamwork skills are needed to complete the group work assignments effectively?
Task | I / G | If group work, what teamwork skills are needed? |
1 Make a video about student life in your university for the student union to show future students. | ||
2 Write a personal statement to apply for a placement in a company to gain work experience. | ||
3 Write a newspaper article explaining why students from abroad come to study at your university. | ||
4 Plan a Welcome Event for new students who are joining your course next term. | ||
5 Write a 500-word essay saying why you chose your degree programme and what you hope to gain from your studies. |
Glossary
reflective If you are reflective, you are thinking deeply about something.
enable If someone or something enables you to do a particular thing, they give you the opportunity to do it.
University lecturers also ask you to work with others because of the skills and subject knowledge you gain during the group work process. This means that the lecturers are not only interested in the finished assignment that you hand in, they are also interested in what happened when you were working on the assignment; they will give you marks for this process of working as well as marking your final assignment. This is why the process is important, not just the product. If the product is good but only one person worked on the assignment, you will score poorly on the collaborative working part of the assignment.
In long assignments there are usually several parts, for example, a group presentation as well as individual writing. It is common to include a reflective piece of writing in which you show what you have learned from your group work. This enables you to make comments about how you worked as a group and how you solved any problems that came up.
You can usually achieve more when working in a group than working individually.
University lecturers will expect you to participate actively in group work.
University lecturers want to see you listening to and learning from other students.
You get marks for being a good group member.
If your final assignment looks good but your group work is poor, you might be disappointed with your mark.
Aims
learn ways of forming a group and getting to know each other
recognize the value of team-building activities
assign roles and responsibilities, establish rules and share contact information
create a shared digital workspace
Quiz
Self-evaluation
Read the statements and circle the answers that are true for you.
1 I want to be able to choose my own group members. | agree | disagree | not sure |
2 I think it is much easier to work with people who have the same nationality as me. | agree | disagree | not sure |
3 Team-building activities can be useful to build a strong group. | agree | disagree | not sure |
4 I donât like having a lot of rules; I prefer a more relaxed approach to work. | agree | disagree | not sure |
5 I think everyone should help each other, so individual responsibilities are not important. | agree | disagree | not sure |
There are a variety of ways of selecting the members of a group. For example, the lecturer can:
decide on the members of each group; you do not have a choice
allow you to choose your group members with complete freedom
allow students to choose their group members, but give some constraints, for example numbers of males and females or the mix of nationalities
use a random selection process, for example picking out names written on individual pieces of paper.
Glossary
Constraint A constraint is something that limits or controls what you can do
Your lecturer will generally have good reasons for choosing one of these methods. If you understand what these reasons are, you are likely to have a more successful group.
Exercise 1
Read the methods of selecting group members below. Make notes about the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
Method | Advantages | Disadvantages |
1 The lecturer decides on the group members with no input from students. | It is a quick way to choose the group. There are no arguments about the group members. | |
2 Students freely choose their own group members. | ||
3 Students can choose their group members within constraints given by the lecturer. | ||
4 Group selection is done through a random process. | You might have all the students with similar skills in the same group. |
Tips
If you are unhappy about your group membership, try to make it work before asking to move.
You should talk to your tutor or lecturer if you still feel uncomfortable in your group after a period of time.
It is very important for you and the other group members to get to know each other so you can work together effectively. If you have some basic information about them, you will quickly find shared interests and start to understand how they think and work.
The activities in Exercises 2, 3 and 4 are just some of the ones you might choose in order to learn something about the other members in your group. Your lecturer is unlikely to use such activities, but will assume that the group takes responsibility for organizing and carrying out this process.
Exercise 2
Look at the form below that a student has completed after meeting a new group member. The information is very basic. What follow-up questions can they ask to get more interesting information?
Nice to meet you!
Work in pairs. Take it in turns to ask each other the following questions. Make notes of the answers.
1 Full name: Narantuya Bayarmaa
2 Name to be used in the group/Nickname: Natalie
3 Nationality: Chinese
4 First language: Mongolian
5 Languages you can speak: Mongolian, Mandarin, English
6 Currently living: Shanghai
7 Course: Mechanical Engineering
8 Reasons for choosing this course: China needs engineers
9 Hobbies: Horse riding, swimming, travelling and learning about new cultures
10 Plans following this course: Return to China and work in the field of developing renewable energy
When you have finished come together as a group and introduce your partner to the rest of the group. Partners should give more information, correct the information being given, and ask and answer more questions. This will generate a rewarding âgetting to know each otherâ session.
A skills audit (see Exercise 3) is a useful way of finding out about the strengths and weaknesses of the various group members. It is very useful to exchange this information with your group so that you can decide who is best suited to each task.
Glossary
skills audit A skills audit is a thorough check or examination of a personâs skills and abilities.
Exercise 3
Read the skills audit form below and rate your skills. Write 1 if you think your skills need improvement, 2 if they are adequate and 3 if they are good.
Skills audit | |
Skills | Rate your skills 1 / 2 / 3 |
1 Written communication skills in English: able to write fluently in English without making serious grammar mistakes | |
2 Spoken communication skills in English: able to discuss things in English, give points of view and justify opinions | |
3 Pronunciation skills: having good enough pronunciation so that people can easily understand you when you speak | |
4 Presentation skills: able to give an adequate formal presentation in English in front of others | |
5 IT skills: able to carry out a range of practical tasks using a variety of computer programmes such as word processing, digital presentations and making posters | |
6 Numeracy skills: good with numbers when carrying out tasks such as costing, budgeting and keeping accounts | |
7 Teamwork skills: able to work together with other students, negotiate compromise and share ideas | |
8 Reading and note-taking skills: able to read long texts quickly and easily, understand them and take useful notes that can be understood later |
Ice-breakers (see Exercise 4) are a useful type of activity to use when a group meets for the first time as they will help to make all the group members feel at ease with each other. In other words, they help to break the ice.
Exercise 4
Look at the ice-breaker activity on page 20 and answer the questions.
1 How easy would it be to complete?
2 How interesting would it be to use?
3 How useful would it be in terms of getting to know others?
Sharing experiences
1 Think about something you learned to do recently, e.g. driving or speaking another language.Was it a good learning experience, or not?What made it a good or a bad learning experience?
2 Think about a really good teacher that you had when you were at school.What made this teacher special?How did this affect the way you worked?
3 Think about a subject that you did not like at school.What made you dislike the subject?Could anything have been done to make it better?
4 Have you ever worked in a group before? If so:What made it a good experience?What did you learn from it?
5 Think about something you have done that needed courage and took you out of your comfort zone, for example, doing something for the first time, or doing something you did not like or did not want to do.How did you face your fear of doing it?What did you learn from it?
It is important to make use of the various information you gather about the members of your group during any ice-breaking activities. It would therefore be useful to complete a table similar to the one below.
Glossary
distribute If you distribute things, you hand them or deliver them to a number of people.
For example:
Group skills overview | ||
Group memberâs name | Has particular skills in ⦠| Has experience of ⦠|
After sharing the information, you can ask one group member to type it up and distribute it to the rest of the group. The group can then use the information to help allocate roles and tasks that need to be covered in your group work.
Even when students already know each other, it is important to improve communication skills and build trust within a group. In professional life, many companies organize team-building activities for their staff. These activities can be simple ones, for example:
having a meeting or a conference
having a meal
going on a day trip.
Glossary
emphasis Emphasis is special or extra importance that is given to an activity or to part or aspect of something.
The importance of team-building in profession life can be seen by the large amount of money some companies spend on team-building activities. These are often not connected with work in any way and include such things as:
adventure sports (e.g. climbing, walking, boating)
raft building
cooking classes.
This emphasis on team building in professional life demonstrates why you should place importance on team building in your student life.
Exercise 5
Look at the team-building activities below. Which activities could be good for team building when the group members already know each other? Which ones would work best? Which of them might not be a good idea? Make notes.
Team-building activity | Would be good because ⦠| Might not be good because ⦠|
1 Inviting the group for a meal where every member brings a dish from their country | ||
2 A visit to the local zoo | ||
3 A day out at a local theme park | ||
4 Planning and taking a dayâs walk in the countryside using maps and a picnic |
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