Because the main concept is to make classroom lessons relevant to the real world, it is important to incorporate team work tasks in Problem Based Learning. In the real world, in their chosen careers, students will find themselves simultaneously working and interacting with people, whether it is coworkers, customers, clients or CEOs. To be successful in meeting real world deadlines, being responsible for real world job assignments, and effectively communicating with others, team work skills and training is vital.
Some of the problems I see in student teams is the lack of commitment on all parties of the team. Maybe it is a question of self confidence on the student's part, maybe it is just their character to let others take the lead and they follow, or maybe other team members are intimidating and a student doesn't want to challenge them. To get all team members excited and committed to doing their share is a challenge.
One strategy I would use to manage conflict in a student team is to start by laying down the ground rules about the responsibility to complete their assigned tasks, about communication that involves listening and responding appropriately, and about how students will be graded according to their group accomplishment and their individual participation.
The only problem encountered this week was not getting responses from all our group members. We carried on and completed the task, but I feel it would have been more complete if all our group members had participated wholly.
Althea Rodrigues
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