Writing and assignments

Everyone has had some experience of being part of a group at some stage in their lives. During your time as a student you will be involved in many group activities – from working informally with a friend or study partner – to being set a group project that will attract a group mark.   Although this can seem a bit daunting to some, treat it as a positive experience to meet new people and develop some key skills.

Groupwork presents an opportunity to:

• Develop important career skills, such as team working and time management.
• Share your ideas and problem-solve.
• Work with students from a range of different cultural and social backgrounds.
• Discover your specific strengths (& be aware of weaknesses).
• Learn how to deal with challenge and conflict.
• Gain new, additional, and creative perspectives on study topics.
• Get to know socially a small group of students.
• Make new friends.
• Develop your communication skills.

So through groupwork you'll develop these amazing skills which will benefit you in employment and throughout life: 

Communication, Decision-making, Interpersonal skills, Lateral thinking, Leadership, Listening, Negotiation, Organisation, Planning, Presentation, Problem solving, Research skills, Writing.

When groups fail it may sometimes be because of process related reasons (the procedures for running the group don’t work) and/or people related reasons (there are problems among the group members themselves).  Are the following issues process or people related?  Drag them into the correct box.

Tips for avoiding conflict

You should expect some disagreements and even conflict at the start. The best way to deal with this is to be prepared for this possibility and follow the tips below to help avoid problems arising in the first place - or to resolve them if they do.

• Follow the ground rules you agreed to as a group at the start.
• Contribute to the discussion and decisions and encourage other group members to do the same.
• Listen to and respect the values and opinions of others.
• Do not criticise or interrupt other group members or dominate the discussion.
• Be realistic about your task and don’t try and do too much in the time available.
• Stick to deadlines and keep communicating about what needs to be completed.
• Remember: contribute, co-operate and compromise.
• And Finally - Be Positive!

Before the first meeting

• Exchange contact information - email addresses and mobile phone numbers.
• Consider using Microsoft Teams to communicate - set up a Teams chat group.

At the first meeting

• Decide on ground rules for behaviour – such as turning up to meetings on time and completing tasks on time. 
• Discuss the assignment and what it involves.
• Decide what has to be done – and who will do it.
• Write it down! You should appoint someone who will write down decisions made by the group and who will be doing which tasks.
  • This should also include deadlines and the date and time of future meetings.
  • Consider using an online task planner like Microsoft ToDo or Trello.
  • When you set deadlines- keep to them!
• Make sure everyone understands their role and what they have to do.

The chat function within Teams is a great way to send messages to people across the university.  It's also a great collaboration tool for working on a group assignments. 

• Create a new Teams chat and add your group members 
  • Click on the Chat button in Teams, select  New chat 

  • Select the down arrow to the far right of the To field and then type a name for the chat in the Group name field.

  • Type in the names of the people you’d like to add in the To field.

  • Now you can send messages and files to everyone in the group chat.
  • You can always add or remove people later.
  • Learn more: Chat with others in Microsoft Teams
     
• Schedule a group meeting

  • Within the group chat you can quickly and easily call everyone or schedule a future online group call.

  • To schedule a meeting with members of a chat, open the chat and select More options at the top of the chat. Then, select Schedule a meeting  

  • You can use this to discuss your work, or share a group presentation on the screen for everyone to practise.
     
• Add a whiteboard
  • Want to brainstorm with the group?  Why not add a whiteboard which is pinned to the top of the chat.
  • Click on the Plus button at the top of the chat.  Search for Whiteboard and add it. 
  • Everyone can add notes and pictures to the whiteboard, great for gathering all the ideas in one place.
     
• Add a notebook
  • If you prefer a more structured place to gather notes you can add a digital notebook to the chat. 
  • Click on the Plus button at the top of the chat.  Search for OneNote and add it. 
  • Everyone will have access to read, add and edit notes.
     
• Share a PowerPoint/Word document
  • Share your document in the group chat. 
  • In the Type a chat box, select Attach file.
  • Everyone will be able to read/edit the document at the same time.  Great for working together.