Page 122 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

112 7 Social Learning Perspective of Educational Technology

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Fig. 7.1 Development process of the group. Adapted from https://c228online.wikispaces.com/
Group++A+-+Group+Development
group needs. The important thing at this stage is solving problems in the best way to
promote group development. Not all group can reach this stage.
Adjourning: The group is not always active or developing. A group can be
terminated when the task is over or when the group disbands for any reason. The
important thing at this stage is concluding the achievement, recognizing member’s
contributions, and giving members the chance to say good-byes to each other.
Group development is not always linear. The group process can loop back to
storming when there are unsolved conflicts, or when new members join or diffi-
culties in understanding tasks arise. Establishing rules of engagement in early stages
of a group development will help when the group encounters problems in later
stages.

7.3.2 Building and Managing Small Groups

In a classroom environment, grouping has multiple possibilities. The person who
will decide the grouping (students, teachers, or randomly assigned), depends on the
task setting and group characteristics. Before considering the grouping, the group
size should be determined. The ideal size of the group depends on the purpose and
content of classroom teaching, but it is generally considered that four to five people
are optimal. Several issues should be considered in determining the number of
groups (Dreyer & Harder, 2009):

• How long does it take for a group to learn?
• How much experience have the students had?