School of Management: Social contract for groupwork
Involving students in the process of establishing expectations in groupwork, may maximise student commitment (Ambrose et al. 2010).
Case study – University of St Andrews, Management School – Social Contract for Groupwork
In highlighting the importance of diverse collaboration amongst students and to mitigate the risk of students opting to work in their friendship groups when embarking on group work, the School of Management encourage a structured approach to group work assignment. This is achieved in two ways:
- Academics constructing each group, through the deliberate allocation of a diverse range of students to each group, on the basis of reported gender, cultural diversity (where possible three nationalities in each group) and in the context of Covid-19 and dual delivery, a mixture of students learning remotely, and students learning in the physical classroom.
- Alternatively, students are given a criterion, that (where possible) their group composition must satisfy, and the students then self-select their own groups on that basis.
- Different reported genders
- Different nationalities
- Home and international students
- Different racial backgrounds
To further encourage a structured approach to group work discussions, encourage inclusive practice and formalise the interaction between students, the students in the school of management are customarily asked to discuss ‘what makes effective group work?’ and then complete a social contract early in the term, usually by the end of week 1. Access an example social group contract via the School of Management website.