Friends, When describing 4-S assignments to others, I am often met with a response like "Yeah, but in the real world we have to work in groups to produce complex outputs, not just make specific choices." I just banged out a quick response to that point as part of a conversation on the POD list. I thought it might be informative here, too, so here ya go: -----Original Message----- From: Sweet, Michael S Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 10:06 AM To: Professional & Organization Development Network in Higher Education Subject: Re: Getting small groups to collaborate rather than divide work -- suggestions? Friends, The problem is the nature of the task they are being asked to perform: divergent vs. convergent. Papers and presentations are excellent learning assignments for individuals, but they are among the worst tasks one can give a group. The nature of these tasks makes the most rational approach to segment and distribute pieces of the work. This is a divergent task, and the too-often demoralizing result is that each student has a different-and inevitably unequal-experience. The best task you can ask of a group is a convergent task, a great model of which is the courtroom jury: given a tremendous amount of complex information, they must produce a choice, and perhaps a very short rationale. The more complex the output you are asking from the group, the more segmented the learning experience will be. (And they more they will fiddle with language editing or Powerpoint fonts instead of actually tackling the material at hand.) It is true that "in the real world" we are often asked to work together in groups to produce complex outputs. But the goals, roles, motivations and consequences of those experiences are completely different than those of the classroom. GOALS: In the classroom, the goal is to learn. In the workplace the goal is to produce/perform. ROLES: In the classroom, all students are of a mostly-equal status. In the workplace, there are formal hierarchies and informal politics in play. MOTIVATIONS: In the classroom, students for the most part want to succeed in the class which is only one part of their workload among relationships that are temporary in their life. In the workplace, one's job is central to one's livelihood (health of one's family, etc.) and the relationships involved are much longer-term. CONSEQUENCES: This is related to the last. In the classroom, if a student slacks off and drops the ball, they may get a lower grade and torch some relationships that really don't matter to them. In the workplace, consequences can be long-term/severe in ways that directly impact central aspects of their lives. Authentic problems and cases are *wonderful* sets of data to put in front of our students, to force them to grapple with how the course material touches the real world. But if you want them to work together in groups, you must be very careful about the nature of the task you are asking the group to perform. If you want high-quality learning, I am a fan of 4-S assignments. These are tasks that: 1. address a Significant problem that demonstrates a concepts usefulness 2. make a Specific choice among clear alternatives (e.g., Which of these is the best example of X? What is the most important piece of evidence in support of Y? Which statement would the author most agree with?) 3. work on the Same problem as other teams, so each team will care about the conclusions and rationales of other teams 4.report their decisions Simultaneously, so differences among teams can be explored for the most instructional effect. Can be accomplished by holding up notecards, having team representatives write on the board, using "clickers," etc.. For what it's worth! -M Michael Sweet, Ph.D. Director of Instructional Development, Center for Teaching and Learning MAI 2206 | Mail Stop G2100 | (512) 232-1775 | http://ctl.utexas.edu