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Introduction

Group work roles define tasks for group members in collaborative pedagogy. Educational strategies and tactics can define roles for participants, both for presential and online activities. These are also called roles for group work or collaboration rules. The rational is that students groups function more efficiently and effectively when members have specific roles. Roles can be designed to trigger specific socio-cognitive processes, e.g. cognitive conflicts that will make people question their assumptions. Roles can be given out for shorter activities or longer ones that can span over several weeks. In the latter case, roles also can be rotated among group members.

Strategic division of roles also exists in other contexts, e.g. management models, and also can inspire education.

See also:

Defining and assigning roles

The procedure for define roles could include three steps

Define the roles that are needed with respect to (learning) goals to be achieved and group dynamics that is desired

Explain roles to students

Design activities that capitalize on outcomes within groups, between groups and at the class level

Debrief

Typically, in an educational context, these roles do not define all the work that will be done. Roles rather just ensure that each group member adopts a specific coordination task.

Most common roles for groups of three to four

A small group of three should have a leader and a scribe. The third one depends on the nature of the project.

Most common roles for larger groups

(one person can combine more than one role in smaller groups)

Role name

Alternative names

Function

Facilitator:

Leader, Manager

Makes sure that objectives are met

Manages discussion

Coordinates work or discussion of coordination

Ensures that work is done

etc.

Presenter:

Summarizer, spokesperson

Presents results to other groups / class

Resource collector:

Librarian, researcher

Finds and collects (appropriate) resources

In addition to the roles above, work itself must insured. It can be distributed among the group members and/or given to specialists, e.g. makers, data analysts, technicians,....

List of general group work role models in education

Below we include lists of roles found on the web (randomly picked and sorted for now).

Most text is quoted as in the original, but we changed the formatting and also omitted text like "Is responsible for" that introduces role functions.

Collaborative Learning Guide

Source: Collaborative Learning Guide (PDF) handout, Illinois State Board of Education, retrieved July 10 2017.

De Laat & Marten in a CSCL study defined the following roles (p. 16 ss). "These roles focus on tasks required to support the overall collaborative learning and tutoring process. By giving each member some explicit responsibility for the community's coordination of their collaborative learning a heterogeneous community is created that may be able to accomplish something that an individual could not achieve alone (Johnson and Johnson, 1999a)."

Doing Cooperative learning, group roles

Source: Group Roles, Arhive, National Institute for Science education, retrieved July 10, 2017.

Student roles

Source: The following two groups of roles have been copied from Student Roles, Teaching Entry Level GeoScience, retrieved July 10, 2017. This list is based on the "Doing CL, group roles" above.

Potential Project Roles

Leader/Editor:

This student is in charge of organizing the final product of the project, be it a paper, a presentation, etc. That doesn't mean technical details, but of making sure that the project meets the standards set out by the instructor (often as a rubric), plus any extras stipulated by the group. These standards generally include punctuality and completeness.

Recorder/Secretary:

This person takes notes whenever the group meets and keeps track of group data/sources/etc. This person distributes these notes to the rest of the group highlighting sections relevant for their parts of the project.

Checker:

Someone needs to double-check data, bibliographic sources, or graphics for accuracy and correctness.

Spokesperson/Press Secretary/Webmaster:

This person would be responsible for the technical details of the final product and would be ready to summarize the group's progress and findings to the instructor and to other groups.

Possible Discussion Roles

Authentic Tasks, Group Work Roles and Gamification

The following model is described in Gutiérrez et al (2014): 1568-1569.

Roles in groups

Source: This list is reproduced from Roles in groups, University of Queensland, Student Services, retrieved July 10 2017

Cooperative group role cards

The following list is extracted from cards available at Cooperative Group Role Cards (PDF), readwritethink.org, retrieved July 10, 2017.

Possible roles on teams

Source: The following list is reproduced from the Assign roles document available through What are best practices for designing group projects? (Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon University, retrieved July 10 2017).

Group work role cards

Source: The following elements have been extracted from cards, available at Group work role cards, Makesenstraining, TES, retrieved July 10, 2017.

Group roles

Source: Teaching Channel (Video).

Assigning Roles for Group Work

Source: Assigning Roles for Group Work, Facing History and Ourselves (retrieved July 10 2017).

Individual Tasks

Source: The following list was extracted from Cooperative Learning: How to Assign Meaningful Tasks to Group Members, Chad Mannis, Daily Teaching tools, retrieved July 10 2017.

The autors also make the following suggestion for larger groups

List of specific role model sets in education

De Bono's thinking hats

According to " wikipedia (retrieved July 10, 2017), Six Thinking Hats is a system designed by Edward de Bono which describes a tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored hats. "Six Thinking Hats" and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively".

Contents of the following table were extracted from the Wikipedia article:

These six modes of thinking then could be organized in sequences, that are also described in the Wikipedia article. Also read The six hats classroom strategy and De Bono's own short page.

Discussants for a presentation

We use this scenario when students give talks in class. Roles may change according to the nature of the talk. Roles turn, i.e. after each talk the "tokens" are shifted to the next person.

Self-Rated Group Role

Nokelainen et al (2003), defined self-rated group roles that models how members could perceive their role in a group. This taxonomy is based on a 52-item questionnaire that includes two scales: 1) group Roles, and 2) social Interdependence.

Social interdepence can be represented with a three factor solution (1) Individualistic, (2) Competitive, and (3) Cooperative.

List of models in management

Belbin model

The model of Belbin (2011) aims for balanced teams that include individuals with specific capacities, ie. strengths that combined, create a succesful team. Capacities also include allowable weaknesses.

The model presented in his web page, a handout for students (PDF) and the 2011 book includes nine team roles.

Contents of the following table were taken from Wikipedia's Team Role Inventories page. We divided entries intro strengh and weaknesses.

Resource Investigator (RI):

The Resource Investigator gives a team a rush of enthusiasm at the start of the project by vigorously pursuing contacts and opportunities. He or she is focused outside the team, and has a finger firmly on the pulse of the outside world. Where a Plant creates new ideas, a Resource Investigator will quite happily appropriate them from other companies or people. A good Resource Investigator is a maker of possibilities and an excellent networker.

Has a tendency to lose momentum towards the end of a project and to forget to follow things up.

The Star Roles Model developed by [Bene & Sheats] defines, according to [ Wikipedia] the "positions managers and mentors adopt when guiding direct-reports and mentees". The model distinguishes between inner guidance (based on insight that the mentor has about the mentee) and outer guidance more related to context.

The following list was extracted from Star Roles Model on July 10 2017.

Mentor role name

Function

Inner roles

Greater Expert:

bringing in own knowledge and sharing this with the person being guided/mentored - having the comfort and knowledge to advise technically, procedurally and personally - based on experience and sourced knowledge

Critical Partner:

brings personal challenge and structured dialogue to the interaction relies on socratic questioning to help the other person realise the truth of the situation and challenge their thinking with the aim of expanding the dialogue and their sphere of consideration.

Sympathetic Ear:

provides a non-judgmental sounding board for the mentee to discuss issues and challenges - establishes a secure conversational environment and falls into the 'friend/confidant role

Outer roles

Background Champion:

works within the organisation to secure wider support, input or change to assist the mentee in achieving their aims - lends their name and weight to the issue and is happy to be quoted as support for the work

Role Model:

bases conversations around challenge on their own direct experience and personal approach to problems - gives mentees steer through "I would..." conversations that educate through replication of their own success rather than self exploration and learning

Cultural Navigator:

imparts detailed, personal knowledge of the cultural flows and key figures within the organisation - uses personal experience and opinion of individuals, teams and departments to shape a route through the challenge for the individual

Mintzberg management roles

Mintzberg defined 10 roles for managers. These can be taken by on single manager but also inspire role distribution in team work.

The following definitions were taken from Additional Roles and Skills of Managers, Boundless resources, retrieved July 10, 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Negotiator: represents the organization at major negotiations.

Interpersonal

Figurehead:

symbolic head; performs a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature.

Leader:

motivates and activates subordinates; performs staffing, training, and associated duties.

Liaison:

maintains a self-developed network of outside contacts and informers who provide favors and information.

Informational

Mentor:

seeks and receives a wide variety of special information (much of it current) to develop a thorough understanding of the organization and environment; emerges as the nerve center of internal and external information for the organization.

Disseminator:

transmits information received from outsiders or from other subordinates to members of the organization. Some information is factual; some involves interpretation and integration of diverse value positions of organizational influences. Disseminating what is of value, and how, is a critical informational role.

Spokesman:

transmits information (plans, policies, results, etc.) within and outside of the organization; serves as an expert on the organization's industry.

Decisional

Entrepreneur:

searches the organization and its environment and initiates improvement projects to bring about change; supervises design of certain projects as well.

Disturbance Handler:

takes corrective action when the organization faces important, unexpected disturbances.

Resource Allocator:

allocates the organization's resources; makes or approves of all significant organizational decisions.

Bibliography

Barkley, E.F., Cross, K.P., & Major, C.H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

R. Meredith Belbin, (2011) "Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail (3rd ed.)", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 Issue: 3, https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2011.04419cae.002

De Wever, Bram; Hilde Van Keer, Tammy Schellens, Martin Valcke, Roles as a structuring tool in online discussion groups: The differential impact of different roles on social knowledge construction, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 26, Issue 4, Emerging and Scripted Roles in Computer-supported Collaborative Learning, July 2010, Pages 516-523, DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2009.08.008.

Eschenbach, E. A. (1997). Using peer evaluations for design team effectiveness. age, 2, 1. PDF

﻿Gutiérrez, I., Castañeda, L. & Serrano, J.L. (2014). Authentic Tasks, Group Work Roles and Gamification: Constructivist Strategies For Teaching and Learning Emancipated Students. In J. Viteli & M. Leikomaa (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2014 (pp. 1567-1573). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/f/147688/

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., and Smith, K. (1991). Cooperative learning: Increasing college faculty instructional productivity (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4). Washington, DC: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

Johnson DW, Johnson RT. Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive and Individualistic Learning. Boston: Allyon and Bacon, 1999a.

JohnsonDW, JohnsonRT. Making cooperative learningwork. Theory into Practice 1999b;38(2):67-74.

Millis, B. J., and Cottell, P. G., Jr. (1998). Cooperative learning for higher education faculty. American Council on Education, Series on Higher Education. The Oryx Press, Phoenix, AZ.

﻿Nokelainen, P., Niemi, H. & Launonen, A. (2003). Modeling Self-Rated Group Role and Social Interdependence Profile for Computer-supported Collaborative Learning. In D. Lassner & C. McNaught (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2003 (pp. 1617-1624). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/14054

Smith, K. A. (1996). "Cooperative Learning: Making 'Group work' Work" In Sutherland, T. E., and Bonwell, C. C. (Eds.), Using active learning in college classes: A range of options for faculty, New Directions for Teaching and Learning No. 67.

Strijbos Willem-Jan & Maarten F. De Laat (2010) Developing the role concept for computer-supported collaborative learning: An explorative synthesis, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 26, Issue 4, Emerging and Scripted Roles in Computer-supported Collaborative Learning, July 2010, Pages 495-505, doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.08.014

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This article or chapter is incomplete and its contents need further attention. Some information may be missing or may be wrong, spelling and grammar may have to be improved, use your judgment! Group work roles define tasks for group members in collaborative pedagogy.

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From online teaching resources to in-room consultations, the Center for Teaching and Learning supports instructors by helping them take their teaching to the next level.

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Basic Checklist on Assigning Roles Successfully

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Basic Checklist on Assigning Roles Successfully

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Make your students' group work more effective by giving each member a specific role to fill.

Advisory

English & Language Arts

History

Social Studies

The resources I'm getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable.

- Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif

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Make your students' group work more effective by giving each member a specific role to fill.