Moving Beyond the ‘Presentation Parade’: Designing Onboarding That Actually Teaches
Dr. Rachel Barnard October 7, 2026
A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE TEACHING PROFESSOR
group learning activities
Peer-Generated Application Retrieval: A Simple Activity to Increase Student Interest and Engagement
As a professor teaching a variety of undergraduate psychology courses, my teaching philosophy centers on building meaningful connections between course material and students’ real-life experiences. When
Yuqing Zou, PhD June 29, 2026
High Point – Low Point: A Multipurpose Tool for the Classroom
Multipurpose tools, especially the Swiss Army knife, have sustained their popularity over the years, namely for their size and versatility. Snag a fingernail? Got broccoli in your
Sarah A. Forbes, PhD, and LeAnne Myers June 3, 2026
A Student’s Guide to Success: Six Strategies to Reduce Team Conflict
Working as a successful team member remains one of the most important skills that employers report that they want when hiring college graduates. This means
Tim Franz, PhD, and Lauren Vicker, PhD October 1, 2025
When Students Don’t Like What They’re Doing: Applications for Group Work
When I look at the various articles and comments in the Teaching Professor collection, group work continues to be a regular topic. It’s proved itself
Maryellen Weimer, PhD July 12, 2024
Advancing a New Mindset About Curriculum Design
One of the most basic principles in education is backward curriculum design. This approach involves beginning with the end in mind. Moore (2015) stated that
Adrianna Davis, EdD, MS March 18, 2020
When Others in the Group Seem Smarter Than You
Students who don’t carry their weight in a group continue to be a big concern for faculty who use groups and for students who participate in them. Most often faculty and students assume that these students are lazy and happy that they’ve landed in the group with others willing to do the work. And sometimes that’s the case. Some students are lazy. But research documents that this isn’t true of all students who aren’t participating in groups. Here are a few highlights from a study that considered how social-comparison concerns might prevent participation and approaches that help alleviate those concerns.
Maryellen Weimer, PhD February 10, 2017
How to Improve Group Work: Perspectives from Students
Many college courses today incorporate some form of group assignment, such as a project, presentation, or a collaborative paper or report. However, instructors are frequently met with resistance from students who don’t like working in groups and don’t want their grade to be affected by peers who may not pull their weight. Nonetheless, research shows that there are many benefits to group work, in terms of both active learning and expanding teamwork skills. Other benefits include better communication skills, critical-thinking abilities, time management, problem-solving skills, cooperation, and reinforcement of knowledge (Forrest & Miller, 2003; Hammar Chiriac, 2014; Kilgo, Ezell, & Pascarella, 2015). Furthermore, since the use of work groups and teams in the workplace has increased, it is important for students to have prior experience in group work. Certainly, a collaborative attitude and the ability to work with others are important at most places of employment.
Brigitte Vittrup, PhD November 19, 2015
Peer Assessment that Improves Performance in Groups
Peer assessment in groups has been shown to effectively address a number of group process issues, but only if the peer assessment has a formative component. Many studies have shown that if peer assessment is used at the end of a group project, group members will punish their dysfunctional members—those who didn’t do work, didn’t turn work in on time, didn’t come to meetings, and didn’t do quality work—but they won’t confront those group members when they commit those dysfunctional behaviors. After-the-fact peer assessment gives the teacher input on who did and didn’t contribute in the group, but it doesn’t change what happened in that group or help students learn how to confront group member problems when they emerge.
Maryellen Weimer, PhD October 29, 2015
Cooperative Learning Structures and Deep Learning
Cooperative learning structures such as jigsaw and think-pair-share are widely used in college classrooms. The two most basic tenets of cooperative learning involve positive interdependence and individual accountability. “Positive interdependence means that group members perceive that the collective effort of the group is essential in order for the individual learners to achieve their goals.” (p. 176) And individual accountability establishes that students are assessed individually on their achievement of the learning goals.
Maryellen Weimer, PhD July 17, 2015