Guiding Questions for Instructors to Promote Collaborative Learning (127)

• What is the content of this course? What aspects of the content lend themselves to collaborative group activities?
• What are the goals of the small-group activities?
• What size groups or teams should be formed in order to achieve those goals?
• How should groups or teams be formed? By the instructor? By the students? Dependent on interests? Dependent on strengths?
• Should the groups be heterogeneous?
• Will the participants remain in the same groups throughout the course, or will new groups be formed for each activity?
• How will activities be structured to ensure participation by all members of the group?
• Should roles be assigned to various group members?
• What rewards or motivations will be built into the process?
• How will accountability be built into the process?
• How will individual and group performance be evaluated? Who will evaluate this performance? The instructor? The participants themselves?
• Is there an expectation that students will provide feedback to each other on their work? How will this be built into the course?

see Guiding Questions for Students