Group projects, while wonderful, always invite difficulties in collaboration. Inevitably, students have conflicts in working together, but the trouble is that students always seem to bring up these conflicts on the day the project is due--or even after!
 
Use this project plan to teach students how to be proactive in their approach to group work. This resource can help students learn how to participate in self directed work teams.
 
Group work is not just about completing a final product together. Group work assignments also target students' development in learning how to collaborate with peers, manage working with other people as professionals (scheduling meetings/making deadlines), and problem solving when conflict arises. In fact, these collaborative skills will likely take students even farther in their preparation for adult life than the end product they create for any class!
 
Students can use this group project plan to outline when their group will hold collaborative sessions (meetings), plan to communicate with each other outside of class, determine group members’ responsibilities, and set their own group deadlines leading up to the final due date to maintain each person’s accountability.