When using teams for
extended periods, monitoring their effectiveness occasionally is critical.
Checking or monitoring, whether each team does it internally (self-monitoring)
or the instructor does it externally (instructor monitoring), provides
the following benefits:
- Positive reinforcement, encouragement for successful teams
- Correction and adjustments, diagnostic help for troubled teams
- Individual accountability
- Development of team skills through group processing
Positive Reinforcement Instructor
monitoring and self-assessment can motivate teams to be more productive.
People and teams work harder when they believe that they are on
the right track. Positive evaluation (either by the instructor or
by the team itself) can provide this validation.
Correction and Adjustments
A negative evaluation that identifies specific problems can allow
a team to redirect and reinvigorate its efforts. Karl Smith3 notes
that instructors need to systematically observe and collect data
on each team as it works so that they can intervene to assist students
in completing the task accurately and in working together effectually.
Individual Accountability
External challenges are extremely effective for encouraging a team
to work more productively. For example, Michaelsen et al.4 point
out that the single most powerful force for development of group
cohesiveness is the perception of an outside threat to the well-being
of the group.
Development of Team Skills in Group
Processing One of the five elements of cooperative
learning is “group processing,” in which team members
set goals, periodically assess what they are doing well as a team,
and identify changes they will make to function more effectively.5
Because the ability to perform self-assessment and to use it to
improve performance is a critical characteristic of successful teams,
students need experience with these activities.
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