Teamwork is essential at college. Underestimating this form of work can have a negative impact on your personal and academic development. Let’s consider some of the major benefits of teamwork.
1. Social skills
- Working in groups teaches important communication and social skills such as active listening and effective speaking.
- Students will learn how to listen to their leaders and coaches in order to perform their individual roles when working as a team. Students learn to listen to one another so that they can work as a cohesive unit.
- Teamwork teaches students how to express their ideas and opinions in a group setting in a respectful and confident manner.
2. Self-confidence
- Teamwork teaches students that their opinions are valued and respected.
- Boosts a student’s self-esteem while encouraging continued participation in group activities.
- Participation in team activities teaches students how to be better communicators, which in turn makes every member of the team feel valued and respected.
As you see, teamwork carries tons of advantages
However, it’s sometimes hard to find inspiration for it. If you don’t know what topics to raise in your student group, check ideas for your essays on teamwork available at popular academic resources. Maybe, they will give you some great insights that you can use in college.
How to Motivate Students to Work in Groups
The poor group dynamic and low motivation among students can be a big problem while you are trying to make a student group for studying or doing tasks.
Not all the students have the same view on group projects, and some of them are afraid and anxious to work with a group of other people because they don’t feel comfortable. Some students work hard, and others don’t want to put much effort because somebody else will do their part.
Students should have benefited from working in groups. For example, they should have a goal they can focus on, maybe some extra credits.
If you have a bigger project then you should focus on that every student has his part. They should be allowed to have fun during their work together, there is no need for strict rules if you see that they are getting along.
But still, there should be respect between them because there are maybe different points of view. You can also give students a chance to choose their partners in the group project. Students can share their previous experiences and set some ground rules between them.
An important rule is that you must give them clear instructions but also allow students to ask questions. Boost their confidence. Give them oral or written reports on how they did.
In the end, ask students to share their experiences during the project. How did they feel in the group? What encourages them the most to do that project? Was that a good companionship or maybe some extra credits? What would they change next time?
6 Types of Projects Students Can Do in Groups
Group collaboration helps students develop many skills that are required for their future success some of the projects that students can do in groups are:
Reading or writing projects. These provide students with the ability to comprehend, understand, and also interpret specific books, magazines, novels, poems, and plays. They are allowed to choose and study biographies of world-famous people and discuss the history of the big names and historic happenings in the world.
Real-world projects.
These kinds of projects contribute to students’ improvement as they get an opportunity to hold discussions on projects, or even use some studying tools together that payoff either to themselves or the outside world. For example, nutritional and physical fitness.
Design projects.
Such aim is to support students to set the focus and structure through defining the purpose of a project and breaking it into component activities. It is best done in a group as it involves motivation and coordination of activities.
Games.
Multiplayer games are another way of engaging students in group work as it requires players to collaborate. Games also help in the overall growth of students and promote healthy relationships.
Investigating.
Mostly in case studies situations whereby students are supposed to investigate a certain question and give back their findings to the class. For example, investigation of a specific law procedure.
Information and data organizing projects.
This type of project aims at helping students to collect, sort, and even summarize data. They can analyze surveys and interviews and put the information into several formats like charts and graphs.
Debate projects.
These revolve around argumentation learning whereby students research and discuss an issue or dilemma. The student comes together in groups and writes persuasive essays, reasons, and evidence to support the issue in question.
Group collaboration leads to improved student achievements and increases self-esteem.
Final thoughts
As you see, teamwork is an integral part of any education. It has numerous advantages and can be used in multiple ways. However, this form of work requires great motivation. Hopefully, this article helped you understand how to motivate students for productive teamwork.