Download MATS group facilitation

Contract
We, the members of ………….group name…………… agree to the following
plan of action regarding our work toward the group assignment tasks:
The following is a list of items you may wish to include in your contract.
Meetings and communication
1. Times and places for in person and/or online meetings.
2. Frequency of checks to Blackboard discussion area.
3. Rules and procedures during face-to-face meetings.
4. Who will summarise decisions, when will he/she post them on the
discussion area.
Roles
5. Each group must appoint a group secretary, a group editor and a group
spokesperson for each of the three project submissions. The secretary,
editor and spokesperson must all be different group members.
6. A new secretary, editor and spokesperson must be appointed for each
submission.
7. All group members must be secretary, editor or spokesperson at least
once.
8. The group secretary will be responsible for posting the tasks allocated
to each of the group members on the Group Discussion board,
together with their deadlines, and for monitoring the progress of
each of the group members against these deadlines.
9. The group editor will collate, edit and circulate the draft report, then
compile the final report and forward it to the group spokesperson who
will submit the report.
10. The group spokesperson will be responsible for communicating with
the teacher when required and for submitting each group report.
11. Enter the name of the group member who will act as secretary, editor
and spokesperson for each submission below.
Work and Deadlines
12. How will the group come to agreement on a topic (what research are
members expected to do before you meet / go online to discuss the
topic)?
13. When will you make a final decision on a topic? Deadline.
14. When will all the material for each submission be provided to the group
editor for collation? Deadline.
15. When will the collated draft submission be circulated to the group
members for review? Deadline.
16. When will the group members’ comments be provided to the group
editor for compiling into the final report? Deadline.
17. When will the final submission be provided to the group spokesperson
for submitting online? Deadline.
Submission 1
Secretary ………………………………………………..
Editor……………………………………………………
Spokesperson …………………………………………..
Submission 2
Secretary ………………………………………………..
Editor……………………………………………………
Spokesperson …………………………………………..
Submission 3
Secretary ………………………………………………..
Editor……………………………………………………
Spokesperson …………………………………………..
Penalties
18. What happens if members don’t meet agreed-to deadlines?
19. What happens if members do not contribute / come to meetings?
Note that the group spokesperson will be required to give the names of
those who have contributed to each task when they submit the report.
Those who have not contributed will receive zero marks for that
submission. The final mark for the group project will also be moderated for
each group member by up to plus or minus 30%. The moderation will be
based on the assessment of each member’s performance by the other
members of the group. The peer assessment will be done twice, the first time
for Submission 1 and the second time for Submissions 2 and 3 (together).
The agreement must be finalised within Week 4 and a copy posted to the
group discussion area. The agreement must also be submitted online by your
group spokesperson using the Group Contract submission box in Activities
> Group Project > Project Requirements
Guide to Group Work
About Group Roles
Group facilitation involves organising and monitoring group activity, to
ensure that workload is shared equitably and tasks are done on time. Group
facilitation for this project will be shared between two roles, spokesperson and
secretary. Additionally a third group member will be required to act as editor.
The personal skills involved in group facilitation are acquired through practice,
so each of you will learn more about working in teams if the roles are rotated
among group members for the different submissions.
What is the spokesperson’s role?
1. Facilitating group meetings
2. Representing group in communications with teacher
The facilitator is not expected to know the right answers, but to ask the right
questions. The facilitator’s role includes:

Helping the group members to think about all the issues, alternatives,
and consequences.

Helping the group members to reflect on what they have learned.

Helping to resolve conflicts and enable the group to reach a
satisfactory outcome.
What is the secretary’s role?
1. Posting tasks allocated to group members
2. Documenting and posting minutes of group meetings
3. Monitoring the progress of group members in completing tasks
The secretary’s role in facilitation is to document and manage the progress of
the group. If your group meets offline, taking minutes of meetings and posting
them online will help members keep on track. If the group meets online,
regularly summarising decisions and action items will be useful.
What is the editor’s role?
1. Compiling the work of the individual group members into a draft group
submission
2. Editing, where necessary, the draft submission
3. Circulating the draft submission to the other group members for review
4. Compiling the final submission and providing it to group spokesperson
for submitting online
The group submission needs to be a coherent document. The role of the
editor is to compile the work provided by the other group members into a
coherent draft submission, edited as necessary. The draft submission must
then be circulated to the other group members for review and then compiled
into the final submission to incorporate the changes provided by the other
group members. The final submission must then be provided to the group
spokesperson for submitting online on behalf of the group.
Doing the project
It is not always easy to get the best out of working as a group. Group
members may have conflicting ideas or personalities, and be uncertain on
how to work together.
While the easiest route may be to divide the project tasks so that each group
member can work independently, this will not generate the best result, as a
diversity of approaches will not be included, and you will not benefit fully from
each other’s experience. Try to find a more collaborative way of working.
For example:

Try to meet regularly as a group (online or on-campus), to compare
research and ideas, not just to divide and allocate tasks.

Each group member conducts research, then pool and compare resources.

Divide into pairs or threes to refine and collate research.

Swap with another pair to develop your ideas before creating the final
report.

Ensure that everyone takes a turn at acting as spokesperson and/or editor
and/or secretary.
What if the group members are not prepared to contribute?
Experience has shown that groups usually come up with better ideas and
solutions than individuals working alone. This is because the group can build
on the knowledge and experience of all of its members. An exception to this
may be when group members are not participating in meetings, or contributing
to the task. This could mean that members have limited knowledge and are
unable or unwilling to share and cooperate. If your group members have not
prepared, the best strategy may be to agree on the individual preparation
needed and to schedule additional meetings. If personal circumstances are
preventing participation, the group member may be able to negotiate
redemption by contributing more to later submissions.