• This gives you an opportunity to organise the composition of the groups as you see best in terms of ethnicity, linguistic background, gender balance, age, past academic results and experience. This can be harder to do later in the course when habitual patterns of seating and interaction have been established. Individual changes in group membership can be negotiated later on, if and when necessary.
• An initially highly structured approach to classroom management may provide security to students who expect the teacher to be in charge. The aim, however, is to develop students' confidence in their ability to engage in learning through discussion and collaborative problem-solving, and at the same time to manage their own learning. As this confidence develops, the need for teacher-centred control diminishes.

From your experience, what works better: a group where each member is from a different background, or a group where everyone is Chinese?

I think a group where each member is from a different background works better.

Why?

Because everyone has a different way of thinking, and this can generate some very good ideas. Of course, in an all-Chinese group you can express yourself more easily; but working with students from other countries you can learn a lot of different things, and you can get ideas from them that you might never have thought of otherwise.

— Jade

Can you talk a bit about your experience of group assignments?

My group assignment was with people from three different places. Two were from Norway, the third was an Australian.

So what was good or bad about that?

I think most Chinese students have much the same background. If they studied at University they studied basically the same things, and they have much the same opinions about things. I think this is is a function of the Chinese education system, from primary school on. But these Norwegians and the Australian, especially our team-leader – our 'project manager' – they all had totally different ideas – really surprising, sometimes.

Were they good ideas, did you think?

Sure they were. Often they thought about aspects I'd never even considered.

— Pearl

Did you find any difficulties working with local students?

The first time I worked with local students it was quite frustrating. You got lost within the discussion. They spoke fast, and didn't consider that you were an international student; they just worked together; their main concern was to get the work done. But I got used to it. The first time was very difficult, but you just have to work through it if you want to work with local students.

How long did it take you to catch up with the group to your satisfaction?

About half a semester. After I'd worked with local students on three or four assignments, it was getting better; and by the last semester I felt totally comfortable – it was no problem for me. I would suggest that it's probably better to start in a group with a couple of local students and a couple of Chinese or other international students – if you're the only Chinese, it's much harder.

— Daniel

I just want to ask about working with other students on your assignments. Were you working with Chinese students or local students?

Usually Chinese students. Because we choose our group members by ourselves, and maybe the local students they tend to choose local... Mostly Asian students choose Asian students to be group members.

Do you think that situation is okay, or do you think the lecturer ought to mix the students up together so that you have local and international students in the same group?

I think the current situation is okay, because the culture gap exists. Many of my friends, they really want to work with local students, with native speakers, because they think that's a good chance for communication. But once they work together, our reaction is slow, and our thinking style and opinions are different, so once we are in the group we Chinese just become listeners, we do nothing, and I think, in the perspective of English, we also have no confidence in ourselves, we want our group members to help us, to do a good report or essay. But in fact if in the group there is a native speaker, so the result is distinction or high distinction; but if we are all second-language speakers, we also get credit or just pass, and I think that kind of solution is okay. Putting students from different countries together is good, maybe, but, especially in our first assignment, it may be a block.

— Nana

• Give each group, or invite each group to choose, its own name – even, if appropriate, team colours, logo, etc.
• Give each group a private chat-room/bulletin board on MUSO for inter-group communication and collaboration.
• Invite each group to maintain its own blog for the duration of the course (for assessment or not, as you see fit).

• It is easier to give instructions to a group if it has a name.
• Moving into and out of group work in a class can be managed more efficiently, with less time and attention wasted, if each student knows exactly what group and where to go to.
• Competitiveness and team-spirit can be harnessed in the interests of learning.

Note:

There may be good reason to do this more than once – e.g.:

• early in the course, as a "getting to know you" or discussion practice exercise

and again

• towards the end of the course, as an assessment or evaluation exercise.

• To encourage metacognition on the part of your students (and yourself) about your teaching approach and methods, about their learning, and about the nature of the subject

There's one teacher who hardly lectures at all. He always puts us into groups to discuss amongst ourselves, and then report back our conclusions. But every class is like that, and I don't think I learned anything. – Actually, maybe this has to do with student what the students wanted. Because in one class he gave us a survey to find out how we would like to see the class improved, and some students said there wasn't enough groupwork. But from that time on it was all groupwork, and nothing else!

So did the students complained that there was too much groupwork?

No. Because after this, less and less students actually came to class.

— Jade