Free Economics Dissertations - Introduction The Ideology Behind Group Work Is For One To Become Aware Of The
INTRODUCTION
The ideology behind group work is for one to become aware of the advantages of working with others. It enables one to develop strong communication skills, confidence in participating in discussions, and develop strategies for making a confident oral presentation. The importance of the processes of group work is that it enables a student or individual to share ideas, so that each one has more ideas to contribute to the group; it also enables the student to gain extra perspectives and points of view, which otherwise one would not have considered or thought of in the first place; it allows one to tap into a wider pool of experience, background knowledge and styles of work. Working as a group does also stimulate each other’s thinking so as to have a healthy debate with regard to the best way forward for the group. Sharing other student’s perspectives enables a student to clarify their own thinking through talking and through answering questions; additionally one gains other peoples assistance in remaining focused on the main point, which allows the student to free up their mind to explore other thoughts within the group. Learning to deal with challenge and criticism is another attribute that makes group work important. It also allows the student to realise that there are more dimensions and answers to a question than they can discover on their own. Group work develops an individuals talking and listening skills by identifying when to allow an individual to finish making a point and then when to speak or to clarify a certain issue. Being able to deal with difficult situations or moments within a group enables a student to develop a certain type of character where there is no room for failure. Finally, issues such as prejudice, unfairness and discrimination enables a student or group members to gain a better understanding of tackling embedded problems which would be of great use to them throughout their lifetime.
With the exception of those areas which require you to follow a set procedure (e.g. in a laboratory), there is normally no one best way to solve a problem within a group working together for a common objective. However, there are common elements in solving problems. Whatever a students starting point is, at some stage they will need to give attention to the following aspects. This is presented in a circle rather than in linear form, since it is important to acknowledge that there is no one right way, i.e. there are no set processes of group work.
Diagram 1: The processes of group work.
From the cyclical diagram of the processes of group work below, one may find that you move backwards and forwards between these elements (e.g. think of a solution, realise you need more information, think of more solutions). It maybe helpful to try out an approach which is different from the one an individual uses regularly or quite often.
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