Group work and presentation skills: Working in groups

Learn ways to get the most out of working in groups and strategies for giving great presentations

Working in groups

Group work is a common type of assessment at university, and has real benefits for students:

Students who work in groups learn more and retain this information for longer.
Working together is more productive than working alone
Groups have a larger skill base to draw on
There are greater opportunities to increase listening, speaking and presenting skills

However, groups are made up of people who all have different personalities, attitudes, standards and ideas and these differences can sometimes make group work challenging.

A group contract will ensure accountability by all participants. Point 2 below refers to establishing rules for the group. Nominate one person to document the group roles as well as the role of each person, and then forward the agreement to each group member.

This will form the basis of the successful completion of your task.

So effective groups make a plan!