I do a confidence inventory that asks students to rate their confidence in their ability to do well in areas that I believe to be of importance to success in my course.  Then I also ask them to rate themselves in terms of each of a few facets of good teamwork (preparation, contribution, leadership, ability to compromise/resolve conflicts).  Since my courses are interdisciplinary, I also ask for major.  Then I balance the teams...making sure that I explain to students the overall goals that I have for the balance of each team.  It generally works very well (although one cannot entirely avoid little disasters due to students' failure to understand their strengths and weaknesses), and students appreciate the transparent nature of the sorting.

I'd avoid grade-based sorting, as students are pretty savvy, and they will very quickly ascertain which students are "supposed" to be the weak links.

Tammy

On Jul 7, 2014, at 12:44 PM, "Parmelee, Dean X." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Don't use GPA or a standardized test like the SAT/MCAT etc.

What is the subject domain of your course?  In general, what are the backgrounds of your students?

From: Christine Sloan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, July 7, 2014 12:06 PM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Group Formation

Wondering what prompts or group formation proxy's do people use to create "balanced" groups for team factors such as overall GPA, motivation to learn, introverted vs. extroverted student. My students want the groups "evenly" balanced in terms of GPA - which is impossible. I find this task very challenging. I would love any ideas!

Chris Sloan, RN, MSN, CNS, CPN

Assistant Professor

Point Loma Nazarene University

Cell Phone: (619)518-2255

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