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Managing groups

Gameface activities (quizzes, volunteer tasks, and class-wide tasks) can be completed individually or in groups. The advantage of group activities are numerous:

  • They promote deeper learning through peer explanation and discussion
  • They promote collaboration skills relevant to academic and professional contexts
  • They increase engagement by making learning more interactive and social
  • They encourage diverse thinking through exposure to multiple perspectives
  • They provide real-time feedback as students correct misunderstandings together

You can form and reform groups in Gameface at any time by selecting Manage Groups in either the projector view or the remote control. When forming groups you can choose to do so automatically, manually, or by loading pre-specified teams.

tip

Form and reform groups frequently. Students will find classes to be much more interesting and engaging if they are seen as an opportunity to meet with and interact with their peers.

tip

Keep groups fairly small. Once groups get larger than 2-3 members it gets more difficult for groups to coordinate, identify clear roles and responsibilities etc., and it becomes easier for group members to coast on the efforts of others.

Allocating groups automatically​

The figure below shows what you will see if you choose to allocate groups automatically. Simply slide the slider to choose how large each group should be, and then select a grouping strategy:

  • Mingle mode: Students are grouped with peers they know the least, to hopefully form new connections.
  • Clique mode: Students are grouped with the peers they know the best, to reinforce existing connections.
  • Mentor mode: One student with a high understanding score is placed in each group, to prioritize peer learning.
  • Accountability mode: Students are grouped with peers who have similar understanding scores, so that high performing teams can excel together and struggling teams can get more attention from teaching staff.
tip

Prior to forming groups think about what the underlying purpose of the group activity is, and which grouping mode best matches that purpose. For example:

  • Is it an icebreaker activity? Then choose mingle mode.
  • Do you want to maximize the chance that every student is part of a knowledgeable group that can successfully complete the task? Then choose mentor mode.
  • Do you want to maximize the chance that at least one group can complete tasks to an exemplary standard? Or do you want to let the majority of the class do their own thing while you pay close attention to the stragglers? Then use accountability mode.
warning

If students are working on something that has high stakes (i.e. a formally assessed task or a big sequence of class-wide tasks) then use accountability mode, otherwise there is a risk that proactive students who know what they are doing will feel taken advantage of by those who don't.

tip

If you use accountability mode then make sure you prioritize checking in on and giving help to the groups who have low understanding scores. They will be lost without you, whereas the other groups will be well-equipped to work on their own.

Allocating groups manually​

You can choose to form groups manually if none of the automatic approaches described above suit your current use case.

To form groups manually simply create each necessary group, and then drag each ungrouped attendee to the appropriate groups.

tip

If you find yourself frequently reforming the same groups over and over again, consider setting up teams as described in the next section.

Managing long-lived teams​

In general, it is a good idea to mix groups up frequently to avoid your class becoming too cliquey or leaving people stuck with peers who aren't helping them learn.

Depending on how you run your course however, it may make sense for you to maintain the same groups of students across multiple classes/rooms. For example, you might have a large group assignment, and expect students to work on it during class time.

To manage long-lived teams:

  1. Navigate to the Teams tab within the relevant course
  2. Create a Team Set. You can create different sets of teams for different purposes (e.g. lab groups, project teams, etc.).
  3. Upload a CSV file containing the details of all the teams within the teamset. This CSV file must have one row for each student enrolled in the course, and separate columns for:
    • student name (either full name as a single column, or separate columns for family name and given name)
    • student email (used to uniquely identify each student)
    • team name (which must be unique for each team)
info

It's ok if this CSV file contains entries for students who haven't yet joined the course (i.e. who aren't showing up in the Students tab). When the student eventually joins course they will be allocated to the correct team.

Once teams have been created they will be available for use in your rooms. Simply select Manage Groups in either the projector view or the remote control, and then choose to Load from teamset and select the appropriate team set.