Hi everyone –

I have been enjoying following this discussion on email.

Although it may be only indirectly related to much of the discussion, some of you may be interested in something I did some time ago related to student-student interaction.  Students were working in small groups in one of my classes and some of the groups were having internal problems.  I arranged a class discussion of “guidelines for group behavior” and the TA wrote up a set of guidelines based on that discussion.  In subsequent classes, when groups started working I required each group to look at and discuss those guidelines.  As a psychology class, it was particularly appropriate to focus on group process and ask the students to (a) discuss their ideal group process in advance, and (b) have the courage to raise the topic for discussion again if anyone in the group felt it needed to be discussed. 

The guidelines are at http://employees.oneonta.edu/vomsaaw/w/handouts_general/GroupWorkGuidelines.htm

They also can be found by searching in Google for “Walter vom Saal handouts.”

Walter vom Saal