Assigning students to groups and facilitating effective group work can significantly enhance engagement, collaboration, and learning outcomes in classrooms. Whether for in-class activities or longer-term projects, thoughtful planning helps ensure that group work is inclusive, productive, and aligned with course goals. This page outlines best practices for assigning groups and supporting group work, offering practical strategies to help instructors foster positive group dynamics and equitable participation.
Approaches to Assigning Groups
Self-Enrollment Based on a Mutual Interest in Topic
Students choose their own groups based on shared interest in a specific topic, question, or project theme. Instructors are advised to co-develop the topics with students.
- Encourages deeper exploration of the subject since students are intrinsically motivated.
- May lead to higher-quality work due to genuine investment in the topic.
- Fosters natural leadership and initiative as students take ownership of their learning.
- May lead to imbalance in group sizes or abilities if some topics are more popular than others.
- Might reinforce gaps if stronger students gravitate toward more complex topics, leaving others behind.
- Potential for superficial grouping if students choose based on trendiness rather than genuine interest.
Self-enrollment is often preferred by students, as it can increase investment, satisfaction, and align with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. While it may not prevent social loafing and can slightly lower satisfaction with peers' contributions (Aggarwal & O’Brien, 2008; Lam, 2015), students generally appreciate the autonomy. However, research shows that low-achieving students may become passive when working with high-achievers, even though they tend to prefer mixed-ability groups Dillenbourg et al. (1996, p. 8).
Self-Enrollment Based on Student Relationships
Students form groups by choosing to work with peers they already know or feel comfortable with.
- Can improve communication and collaboration, especially if students have a history of working well together.
- May reduce anxiety and builds confidence, especially for students who are shy or have had negative group experiences.
- Can be particularly supportive for neurodiverse students or English language learners.
- Groupthink can occur—less diversity of opinion and less critical discussion.
- Some students may be excluded or struggle to find a group, which can affect morale.
- Can mask power imbalances or allow unequal contribution if one student dominates.
This method often leads to groups of students who are similar to each other, which can help them get along better and avoid conflict. However, having similar group members can also lead to less creativity and lower satisfaction compared to random groupings (Stahl et al., 2009). In online settings, these effects might not be as strong because students don’t see each other as much, so differences are less noticeable (Hathorn & Ingram, 2002a). That said, students’ names are often still visible, which can influence how groups form.
Random Assignment
Groups are created randomly using a method like drawing names or using an online tool such as OnQ.
- Promotes inclusivity by mixing students who might not normally work together.
- Helps build social and communication skills across a variety of peer types.
- Removes pressure from students who feel anxious about group selection.
- May lead to mismatches in availability, communication styles, or commitment levels.
- More effort may be needed to build cohesion and trust within the group.
- If conflict arises, students may feel less invested in resolving it.
Randomly assigned groups are usually less preferred by students and can lower their motivation compared to choosing their own groups based on shared interests. Still, they may lead to slightly better satisfaction with how group members contribute (Aggarwal & O’Brien, 2008; Lam, 2015). These groups are more mixed, which can boost creativity but also lead to more conflict (Stahl et al., 2009). High-achieving students prefer instructor-assigned groups, while lower-achieving students like being in mixed groups more than being assigned randomly (Pieterse & Thompson, 2010).
Instructor Assignment
The instructor assigns students to groups based on specific criteria such as skills, learning styles, or to balance abilities and personalities.
- Strategic group composition can improve performance and ensure equity.
- Allows instructor to scaffold group learning by mixing experience levels or skill sets.
- Useful in classrooms where interpersonal dynamics need careful management.
- Students may feel less motivated or resent being "forced" into a group as they have less ownership over the process.
- Requires time, insight, or data from the instructor to make informed decisions.
- May require more instructor involvement to monitor group dynamics and adjust if needed.
Higher-achieving students tend to prefer when instructors assign groups based on past performance, rather than using random assignment. But this approach can miss out on the benefits of having them help lower-achieving students, which supports learning for both groups. Lower-achieving students also prefer being in mixed-ability groups over being placed randomly (Pieterse & Thompson, 2010).
Group Work Best Practices
Support effective teamwork by gradually building skills through structured steps, providing clear expectations and a group charter, and offering guidance, resources, and modeling. Make success criteria transparent, include opportunities for feedback, and explicitly teach inclusive practices.
Assess both how students work together and what they produce, using tools like peer evaluation to promote fairness and meaningful collaboration (e.g., they are collaborating meaningfully instead of dividing and conquering). Include individual tasks—both formative (e.g., brainstorming, briefing paper) and summative summative (e.g., reflection)—to ensure accountability and support each student’s learning.
Be mindful of students’ scheduling constraints: Design group work with flexibility by including asynchronous options, allowing enough time to participate, and offering schedule flexibility for any required live sessions. Provide alternative assessments for students who can’t take part in group activities.
Provide options: Promote learner autonomy by offering choices in assessments and activities, such as topics, interaction types, and submission formats. This supports diverse learning styles, interests, and motivations. Consider giving options like choosing collaboration, offering both synchronous and asynchronous options, or allowing different types of project submissions (e.g., presentation or website).
Encourage collaboration by making group members rely on each other and by giving them time and opportunities to build trust and work well together.
Align group work with real-world tasks to give students a meaningful reason for learning and to prepare them for success both in and outside the classroom. Clearly explain the purpose of activities, and ensure teamwork is integrated into the course design. Promote a culture of co-creating knowledge through interdependency, scaffolding, and shared resources.
Incorporate diverse voices and perspectives into group work design to help all students connect with the activities. Use varied examples, case studies, and resources that reflect different backgrounds and global relevance to create a rich learning environment.
Provide clear, structured learning: Design group work assessments with clear, step-by-step tasks, rubrics, and examples. Provide a structured timeline with clear instructions and deliverables so students know exactly what to do and when. Ensure resources are easily accessible to support the group work process.
Provide enough time for student engagement: Ensuring that there is enough time for everyone to engage with materials and complete the assessment is especially important for group work. Provide more time than you think might be necessary for the average student.
Using a Group Charter
When using groupwork in a course, group charters are a recommended strategy to increase communication, effort, mutual support, cohesion, and member satisfaction in teams (Aaron et al., 2014). A group charter is introduced to team members upon formation and provides the team the opportunity to discuss and, ultimately, agree on members’ expectations related to behavior, meeting management and the allocation of work (Barron, 2000).
Instructors may find it useful to provide students with templates or exemplars. Here are two different examples:
- Group Charter Template (University of Calgary)
- Sample Group Contract (University of Waterloo)
Some instructors, alternatively, like to provide some general guidelines of what to include in a charter, such as:
- A breakdown of key tasks to complete the group work
- Roles and responsibilities of each member of the group
- A communication plan (e.g., a schedule for meetings, how to share information, how they will connect)
- Strategies to avoid conflict
Actions instructors can take once charters are submitted by students:
- Follow up on absent/unrepresented students.
- Comment on charter plans that contradict teamwork best practices.
- Address incomplete or unsubmitted charters (note any absence of requested information).
- Evaluate contingency plans (e.g., for missing teammates or conflict).
- Check that charter reflects the requirements of the assignment (e.g., are the students going to be interdependent).
- Provide feedback on how students can improve.
Aaron et al. found that team charters increase communication, effort, mutual support, cohesion, and member satisfaction in teams based on a survey implemented in final week of their course (2014). Interestingly, they found that, while an initial introduction to the charter was very beneficial for students, extensive training on it was not necessary for these benefits (Aaron et al., 2014). This suggests that the interactive production of the charter on is own was potentially sufficient for it to be meaningful.
Aaron et al. did not consider international or culturally diverse students in their research, so these findings may not generalize to other contexts.
This resource was remixed from the ‘Instructional Design Guide to Group Work’ licensed by Arts & Science Online at Queen's University under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.