Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Work (3rd ed.)

Citation

(2001), "Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Work (3rd ed.)", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2001.00325aae.001

Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Work (3rd ed.)

Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Work (3rd ed.)

David JaquesKogan Page2000312 pp.ISBN 0 7494 3091 5 (paperback)£19.99

Keywords: Learning, Group working

Learning within a group situation, rather than in formal lectures or training sessions, allows students to have greater scope to negotiate meaning and express themselves within the language of the subject. It also helps them to establish a far more effective relationship, not only with their tutors and trainers but also with each other. It can also play a central part in developing key professional skills, such as listening, presenting ideas, persuasion, self-direction, self-monitoring and team working.

The difficulty many tutors and trainers often find with teaching in groups is gaining the right balance within the leadership role. They may well fall back on the more traditional role of subject expert and prime talker, thus failing to harness the potential of this powerful learning environment. Learning in Groups seeks to solve this problem.

Now fully revised for its third edition, the book not only aims to promote understanding of group methods, but also to develop group learning skills in students and tutors by showing a range of practical exercises and a widening of the group experiences to be used. It includes coverage of areas such as the characteristics of groups, the place of leadership within the group, the processes of collaboration and communication, how students learn, setting and structuring tasks, benefits and drawbacks of different methods, assessment of group work and how to make learning more real.

Incorporated in the book are case studies, exercises based on the text and training activities.