MSc group work ideas: please comment!
I wish I felt comfortable using all the software but in practice I’m wondering if it’s not best to stick to one to make my life easier as I have never worked online before.
In an ideal world we would use Collaborate for break-out groups as part of synchronous lectures/seminars/workshops (related to the translation theory class). These groups would be task specific and not assessed. So for our main theory course in sem 1 we could do a synchronous lecture with breakout groups. I wonder however what to do about the students who will not be able to attend the synchronous class and only access the recordings (we would cycle every week so it would not be the same students all the time). We could have an additional forum discussion on a related topic but I think that would double up work. For this course students have to write an essay and we could encourage them to organise themselves into groups to discuss translation strategies and theories. That way all students would have group experience as part of that course, and we do not need to recreate class group experience for those who cannot attend the synchronous lectures?
We could also encourage students to organise reading groups for instance: self organised groups. Give them some guidelines on how many and what languages should be represented in each group. If these groups are role-defined, we could re-assign roles for each reading activity so that it’s not the same student leading every time.
For our research methods course in sem 2: we could ask the students to create self organised groups to share thoughts on research design. We could tell them to organise themselves in terms of the type of the dissertations (Research or Translation & Commentary). So it’s self organised but based on the type of dissertations.
We also teach the practice of translation and for this I could use Teams for asynchronous conversations around topics related to the practice of translation OR blogging groups: discussing challenges in a thread.
I like the ideas of formal and informal spaces: could use Teams for the translation practice course or research methods group discussions, and the students can use whatever they want outside those spaces to speak without tutors.
All this would require very clear guidelines for group work.
My question is: could I use Collaborate to do all of this?
It is generally being advised that we all (however confident we feel) stick to a limited number of supported learning technologies at the moment; this is for our sakes and the sakes of students.
As you have pointed out, you could use Collaborate for a lot, but it also good to identify where it isn’t enough (for all students); all tools will have weaknesses somewhere, and they won’t do everything (well).
If you offer students a choice of technology, maybe help they decide which might be best for what (they don’t need to waste time comparing them if you already know the answer).
Having space for asynchronous activities is essential for students who cannnot always attend synchronous sessions (can happen to anyone, especially now) and for more considered discussion/reflection after a synchronous event, or planning for the next session. This could be in Learn or Teams.
You seem to have some detailed thoughts about how you will structure groups and tasks – I hope you can put these into practice.
Yes, groupwork will need clear guidelines; maybe you can encourage students to help with this (e.g. how they conduct meetings, attendance and lateness, minute taking, etiquette, conflict resolution) so they may be more likely to follow the guidance.
All the best,
Tracey
Thanks very much Tracey!