Claim: Group assignments that students must work together to complete should replace a
substantial amount of traditional lecture-based instruction in college and university
courses.
Reason: It is vital for students to gain experience collaborating with peers to study a topic
and to achieve a common goal.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the
claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
Collaboration and teamwork skills are highly important for most students and, in fact, most people in their careers. However, it is difficult to make the case that group assignments which may encourage collaborative behaviour should replace 'substantial' lecture-based teaching. Rather, the two teaching tools complement one another rather than acting as substitutes. An education dominated by collaborative work gives students fewer chances to develop indepent studying skills, gain arcane insights from conversant professors and may result in fewer students actually understanding the topic.
There is a trade-off with every decision made and the cost of that trade-off must be compared to the benefit of an action before it can be deemed worthy. In the case of replacing substantial lecture-based instructions with group assignments, it is exactly this analysis that is lacking. What skills do students lose out on in a class where the majority of their work is in group assignments? It's clear to see that these students, who may have sharp collaboration skills, will naturally have less experience working independently. In building their collaboration skills, they will have lost their independent learning skills, which are also crucial to most careers students will be looking to pursue. The ability to make sound judgements, plans and learn by oneself- skills which are developed through independent study- are in fact useful skills for collaborative work too. However, only working in collaboration does not encourage students to develop these skills to the same degree as independent study.
Secondly, the argument seems to imply that lecture-based instruction cannot be collaborative or involve elements of collaboration. However, many professors today look to engage their students by using interactive digital tools in lectures or by requiring active participation to solve a problem. In both cases, students are required to collaborate and work towards a common goal and can build these skills without requiring substantial group assignment work.
Of course, it is difficult to make the case that collaboration during lecture-time only will sharpen a student's teamworking skills as much as group assignments which are much more involved. Therefore, I am not making the case that students should not do any group collaboration. Instead, it is important for students to learn and develop their knowledge of the subject through a variety of methods. This not only ensures that they develop a rounded set of skills (for example, writing a thesis builds detail orientation skills while debating in a seminar helps students communicate their ideas consisely) but this also ensures that the students get the most accurate grade for their skills and command of the subject as possible. When students work in groups, there is an incentive for some members of the group to shirk their responsibilities. One student who is content with a lower grade might put in less hours into the group assignment than a student aiming for all As. If the result of this project is a high grade due to the ambitious student's hard work, then the student with more lassitude will unfairly get a higher grade than he might deserve. By the same vein, a studious student working with a group of less ambitious students might see her grades decline as she's unable to fulfil the obligations of the entire group assignment by herself to the calibre that she would like.
Finally, to replace a substantial amount of lecture-based learning with group work assumes that all students will need collaboration skills more than independent learning skills. This might be true for some students, however, one can easily see cases where it would not be appropriate for all students. For example, a student looking to become an academic scholar with an interest in a very niche field will likely need to develop independent working skills much more than collaborative skills. To require this student to learn in only a collaborative environment would not equip him with the skills he requires in the future.
In the example above, the aim is not to suggest that the student needs no skills in collaboration, scholars often work together just as often as any other professionals do, and therefore, all students should spend some time working on group assignments. However, to make the case that this time should outweigh other types of learning would be to ignore the benefits of the lecture hall entirely. Students require a degree of independent time to pursue areas of their own interests and build independent skills as well as time spent in the company of erudite professors who can expand their knowledge of a subject much more than peer work alone. In fact when group assignments are used as teaching tools alongside classrooms and independent study, students can be enriched in well-rounded skills which will make them much more adaptive in the workplace, than simply collaboration alone. The group assignment allows students to explore the lessons of their professor with other peers.
Comments
The view that student must…
The view that student must work together as peers to achieve a common goal is really a connective phase for growth to happen. Students in both colleges and universities are introduced to various types of learning (which can be direct or indirect) that enables them to gain skills and knowledge in their field of study.
Direct teaching in this argument is also referred as traditional-based instruction as it involves a teacher-student learning experience through the use of projectors, scheme of work, learning materials etc. to pass on information and skills to students, whereas the indirect teaching requires a collaborative experience where students cooperate in groups to rub minds by creating ideas that fits the topic of interest given. An example of direct learning or traditional-based instruction is a teacher in front of a classroom passing on knowledge and that of indirect learning is a classroom presentation of various groups of students given a particular topic to discuss on.
As many have been given the opportunity to gain knowledge in various ways and techniques, the idea behind lecturers ensuring student to collaborate with one another is for them to identify problems from various points of view, helping them to critically think and analyze a problem by proffering solutions as it encourages teamwork and supports unity among members of a particular group. For instance, master's students were given a research assignment topic on assessment of plant species diversity in a local community. The students were able to come up with an idea that a Shannon-wiener diversity index is an ideal technique for assessing the abundance and richness of the plant species which serves as a means of conservation for plant species.
Group reading is part of a collaborative work as it helps to broaden many students' horizon by improving their IQs and giving them the opportunity to multi-task beyond their capability.
However, many lecturers find it difficult to give collaborative assignments due to the fact that some student hardly indulge themselves in activities that would help them improve in areas that are difficult for them to assimilate. Hence this can create a form of laziness resulting to a lower IQ in the field of study.
There are more to collaborative learning and teamwork than replacing a substantial traditional lecture-based instruction as I am convinced that this has served as a medium to improve growth by encouraging individuals to become an expertise in their field helping them achieve a common goal of similar interest.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 102, Rule ID: A_PLURAL[1]
Message: Don't use indefinite articles with plural words. Did you mean 'a student' or simply 'students'?
Suggestion: a student; students
...n during lecture-time only will sharpen a students teamworking skills as much as group ass...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 903, Rule ID: LESS_DOLLARSMINUTESHOURS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer hours'?
Suggestion: fewer hours
...content with a lower grade might put in less hours into the group assignment than a studen...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 903, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun hours is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
...content with a lower grade might put in less hours into the group assignment than a ...
^^^^
Line 7, column 1271, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: she's
...tudents might see her grades decline as shes unable to fulfil the obligations of the...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, however, if, look, may, second, secondly, so, then, therefore, well, while, for example, in fact, of course, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 19.5258426966 133% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 32.0 12.4196629213 258% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 15.0 14.8657303371 101% => OK
Relative clauses : 25.0 11.3162921348 221% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 53.0 33.0505617978 160% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 105.0 58.6224719101 179% => OK
Nominalization: 22.0 12.9106741573 170% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 4264.0 2235.4752809 191% => OK
No of words: 810.0 442.535393258 183% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.26419753086 5.05705443957 104% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.33483823012 4.55969084622 117% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.926999855 2.79657885939 105% => OK
Unique words: 340.0 215.323595506 158% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.41975308642 0.4932671777 85% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1301.4 704.065955056 185% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 8.0 4.99550561798 160% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 3.10617977528 97% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 11.0 4.38483146067 251% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 30.0 20.2370786517 148% => OK
Sentence length: 27.0 23.0359550562 117% => OK
Sentence length SD: 61.1886336576 60.3974514979 101% => OK
Chars per sentence: 142.133333333 118.986275619 119% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.0 23.4991977007 115% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.96666666667 5.21951772744 95% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 4.97078651685 121% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 7.80617977528 51% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 10.2758426966 175% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 5.13820224719 156% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.83258426966 83% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.347561447457 0.243740707755 143% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.11542759703 0.0831039109588 139% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0554232540492 0.0758088955206 73% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.21865134061 0.150359130593 145% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.025432559593 0.0667264976115 38% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.8 14.1392134831 119% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 44.07 48.8420337079 90% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.1743820225 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.52 12.1639044944 111% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.48 8.38706741573 101% => OK
difficult_words: 180.0 100.480337079 179% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 11.8971910112 97% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.2143820225 114% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.