York St John University www'yorksj'ac'uk

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Engaging small groups
or Are small groups engaging?
Jacqui Akhurst, PhD J.Akhurst_at_yorksj.ac.uk
York St John University www.yorksj.ac.uk
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• OUTLINE
• The challenges of small groups
• Some educational theory
• Small groups that work
• The dynamics of small groups
• Ideas 1
• More ideas

York St John University www.yorksj.ac.uk
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1. The challenges of small groups
York St John University www.yorksj.ac.uk
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• WHAT SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES SAID
• I was very worried that they would ask me lots of
  questions I didnt know the answers to, and that
  they would think I was stupid for not knowing the
  answers!
• When I first started teaching (as a Masters
  student only a few months out of my undergrad
  degree) my biggest worry was that a student would
  ask me a question I couldnt answer.
• Getting asked a question I couldnt answer!
• My biggest worry was being found out in terms of
  my knowledge, but I soon discovered that the best
  policy was to copy Socrates and admit my own
  ignorance, when I didnt know the answer.
• Probably, how to mark work at what level. How
  would I know what a piece of work was worth?

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2. Some thoughts from the theorists

• HE students prefer to be taught in an
  enquiry-based way
• Any form of academic enquiry presents a tension /
  dialectic between
• COMPLIANCE CONTESTATION
• Socrates and Isocrates ( rhetoric)
• Disciplinary orthodoxies v. critique
  openendedness
• Didactics v. Exploration
• Control v. Facilitating learning
• The work of Ausubel cf. Bruner

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How can we bring together these dichotomous ideas?

• Bruner cf. Ausubel
• Proposal of an orthogonal solution

High compliance Low contestation
Low contestation Low compliance
COMPLIANCE
High contestation Low compliance
High compliance High contestation
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Work in triads

• Whats been your experience? What have you
  thought about as Ive been talking?

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3. Small groups that work

• An exercise with a ball of string
• What assists students engagement?

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4. The dynamics of small groups
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Ideas 1

• Problem Students dont read / prepare beforehand
• A solution Set reading and students to hand in
  one page summary identified by student number
  randomly distributed, and assessed by peers
  according to a checklist.
• The students response
• Possibility of some marks for good faith
  submission?

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More ideas

• 53 Interesting Things to Do in Seminars and
  Tutorials
• Sue Habeshaw, Trevor Habeshaw, Graham Gibbs
• Student-led seminars
• http//www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/firstwords/
  fw18.html
• From Jane Halonen
• The data page ? research activities
• Two truths and a tale
• Think and do page
• Whats wrong with Emily?

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Finally

• An article about active learning at university
• http//www.groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/1
  9(2)_07_Hess.pdf