Abstract

The goal of this research study was to find what makes groupwork to be successful. We asked faculty why they give groupwork assignments to their students and what their opinions about the best practices in creating effective groupwork environment for their students are. It was also intended to compare instructors’ opinions with research findings to find out how much their groupwork strategies match research findings in this area. Likewise, we asked students about features of successful groupwork to see if faculty and students’ viewpoints on features of successful groupwork were similar. The results reveal the most prevalent groupwork strategies practiced by faculty and the favorite ones among students. Results show faculty and students’ attitudes towards groupwork are very similar, however, many faculty do not follow the guidelines suggested in earlier studies to improve the effectiveness of groupwork assignments.

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