[Untitled illustration of four people forming a puzzle with four different pieces.]. Royal Society of Chemistry. https://edu.rsc.org/assessment-for-learning/working-in-groups-principles-of-assessment-for-learning/4012315.article
In this week’s class we talked about group work. I guess I don’t have to describe it as we all know what it is, well, or at least everybody has a vague idea about it. Still, I was surprised by some of the things explained last Monday. As described in Michael’s powerpoint presentation, ‘’the objective of cooperative learning is not to learn to do things together, but to learn together to do things by ourselves’’. I had never realised that was its goal, I just thought of it as a way to collaborate and work with other people, period. I believe teachers could explain this to their students, so we’d have a better understanding of what we need to do and, also, of what it’s expected.
I also found rather curious that there exists an organization on how students should be seated according to their abilities. I would never have thought of that. However, I don’t know, I have my doubts here because, forcing them to sit in a particular place won’t it be strange for them? Won’t they suspect that there is an obscure reason behind it? In my view, it could cause some resentments between them too. How should I know? Maybe I’m overthinking too much. Apart from that, don’t we have to encourage them to be independent and make their own decisions? But anyway, I guess it can be really useful sometimes, depending on the project, the learners and the moment.
I am pro team work, always has, always will, although, I don’t know how I feel about it right know. On the one hand, I think it’s an extraordinary and indispensable way to learn in our personal and professional lives, but I feel a bit suffocated if I’m honest. In this master’s degree we have several group works (plus individual works and tasks, plus exams in most subjects) and, honestly, I’m having a hard time getting organised and finding the time to combine everything and be able to coordinate with the rest of my peers of each group (who also have their own responsibilities, schedules and other teams) without losing my personal daily life. Yeah, I am a worrywart, it is true that I am easily overwhelmed but still...
So, group work? Definitely. Group work for every single thing? No, thank you, not for me.
And that’s all folks!
At least for this week.
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