The nature of groups: implications for learning design.

Considering recent claims that groups are important to teaching and learning, the authors examine the differences between groups and collections of people to see how one might create learning groups when designing learning and instruction. Based on literature in the fields of group dynamics and education, characteristics of groups are listed and explored. Strategies for creating learning groups are synthesized. Implications for practice are discussed.

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There have been a number of claims that groups are important to teaching and learning. For example, Shaban and Head (2003) have called the use of group projects an essential tool for learning. In addition, Bhattacharya and Chatterjee (2000) claimed there were several "pedagogical advantages" (p. 298) to using groups.

Much of this interest in groups stems from the work of Piaget (1928, 1973), Vygotsky (1978), and, more recently, Jonassen (1990). Crook (1998) argued that, though these works have often talked about social learning or collaboration, it may not be accurate to interpret them as group work. For example:

     Students  learn to work in groups to solve a realistic and authentic     problem,  thus gaining collaborative learning experience. (Neo & Neo,  2002, p. 144)  

      
  The students work together in groups (collaboration) ... (Black  &  

      
    McClintok, 1996, p.26)     You must provide as much opportunity  as possible for individual     reflection (for example, analysis of  errors) and social interaction     (for example, group labs). Clearly,  each educator must decide how to     apply these aphorisms in a concrete  situation. (Ben-Ari, 2001,     p. 68) 

If using groups of people is important to teaching and learning, we need first to answer the question, "What is a group?" "More than one learner working together" may not be a sufficient definition. Tudge (1999) argued that merely asking learners to work together in educational research, or even pairing learners based on ability, is insufficient to foster the types of learning Piaget and Vygotsky discussed. In the fields of social psychology and group dynamics, Lewin (1948) and Forsyth (1999) argued that, even though people often find themselves gathered together, not all gatherings of people qualify as groups. Thus, while creating learning "groups" may appear simple, it is, in fact, more complex than it appears. Learning designers (teachers and instructional designers) will likely need to do more than simply cluster learners and assign them shared tasks.

To begin to address what learning designers should consider in creating learning groups, it may be beneficial to look at the possible definitions of groups to understand what makes a collection of people a group. This is not a new or novel idea. We often define the tools we are interested in using. [For example: What is the Internet? (Parritt, 2003) or What is a browser? (Ehley, 2003)]. We often seek to answer the same questions: What is this tool? What does it do? How does it work?