Study Skills & Learning Strategies: Group Work & Collaboration

Take Inventory of your Group Work & Collaboration Strategies

Take a moment to reflect on this quote: "Collaboration allows us to know more than we are capable of knowing by ourselves" (Paul Solarz)

What do you think it means to collaborate and why might it be useful at university? See 44 Benefits of Collaborative Learning.
Is collaboration always allowed or are there times it should be avoided? See Unauthorized Collaboration.
Collusion and cooperation are synonyms of collaboration. Do you agree? Know the difference.

Collaborating with others is an essential part of your learning at university and your instructors will regularly assign group work to help you develop this important skill. Collaborative learning can help you develop your time management, communication, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. It can help you develop good leadership and team-building skills and make you more aware of EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion). Whether group work is assigned or used as a study strategy, it is important to know what your responsibilities are.

This group work rubric will help you understand the collaborative learning skills you can develop and what your group work responsibilities are.

Group Work Rubric

Personalize/Plan Your Approach
Reflect on the strategies you use when doing group work or collaborating with others. Do your strategies enhance, extend and empower your learning? From the resource links below, you can adopt, apply and adapt strategies to suit your learning needs.
ADOPT	APPLY	ADAPT

Strategies that enhance your ability to collaborate and work effectively in a group setting	Strategies that extend your ability to to collaborate ethically and with integrity	Strategies that help you master your group work and collaboration skills
Explore How to Collaborate with Your Professor Respectful and Effective Communication for Teams by Monash Universtiy: Set up an Effective Team Manage Group Dynamics Teamwork Checklist Do's and Don'ts of Online Teamwork Study Group Toolkit by McGill University Virtual Study Group Toolkit (pdf) Watch Team Work: Setting Expectations & Ground Rules (1:12)	Read Respectful and Effective Communication for Teams Online Communication Zoom Etiquette for Students Guidelines for Communicating Online Writing Effective Discussion Posts Be informed: USask Academic Integrity Explore USask Online Collaboration Tools Watch Receiving Feedback & Giving Feedback Online Netiquette (2:02)	Understand Tuckman's Stages of Group Development Five-Stage Team Building Model (4:47) Read How to Improve Leadership Skills in College Watch Conflict Styles: Off the Record (3:39) Take this Self-Assessment Four Tendencies Quiz (Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, Rebels)

Icons by Vitaly Gorbachev, SBTS2018, and Uniconlabs on Flaticon

Your Task

ADOPT & APPLY
Choose group work strategies that enhance your ability to collaborate with others in diverse group settings

ASSESS & ADAPT
Evaluate your group work strategies to extend your choice and control, and become an empowered collaborator

Templates & Additional Resources

Getting Going in Group Work Template (pdf) (doc)