Some main reasons for putting individuals in groups:
- combine individual talents to reach a complex goal
- teach members how to work in teams
- create more opportunities to practice language skills
- give and receive peer feedback
- create intimacy and community in a crowded environment
Some additional, less noble, reasons :
- reduce the number of projects that need to be graded
- keep students occupied when an instructor is under prepared
- student-generated content hides thin lesson planning
- student-student interaction reduces student-teacher contact
- it's what the textbook, the department or the boss said to do
Looking at the first five main reasons I listed, really only the first one is an authentic reason for group work. There is a goal/result/product that can not be reached through individual effort. The other four reasons are just variations on learning how to work in a group.
If a team is assembled only to practice how to be in a team, the quality of each group member's experience will depend on the good nature of the other members, and the instructor's (or supervisor's) ability to influence everyone's overall behavior. Given human nature, the odds are not good for a positive outcome.
On the other hand, if there is a true, compelling reason for individuals to band together, the odds are greater for real team work. In a work environment, the core compelling reason could be just to take home a paycheck. In the classroom, however, usually the "paycheck," course credit, is still awarded even if a team member coasts on the efforts of others.
The challenge, then, is to identify, and make obvious to students, a target (beyond receiving a passing grade) that is important to the individual member but absolutely cannot be reached without being a fully functioning part of a team.
Yes, I know, easier said than done in an educational environment where every student task tends to be an inauthentic simulation, from projects to papers to presentations. But if you can get students out of a simulator and into a real cockpit, and the necessity and personal benefit of cooperating with a co-pilot, a navigator, a traffic controller, can suddenly become very clear. Then the real flying can begin.
