Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Face-to-Face and Online Environments

Learning in groups, rather than in formal lectures or presentations, allows students to have greater scope to negotiate meaning and express themselves and their own ideas. It also helps them to establish far more effective releationships, not only with their tutors and trainers but with each other. Yet many tutors and trainers find the leadership role required when working in groups difficult to perform satisfactorily and revert to their traditional role as subject expert and prime talker. This handbook is a truly comprehensive guide for anyone involved in groupwork, containing advice and practical exercises to develop group learning skills for both learners and tutors. This new edition has been thoroughly updated, containing valuable new material throughout on group learning and collaborating online, action research and the role of reflection and emotional intelligence.

Table of Contents:
Principles of Group Dynamics. Studies of Group Behaviour. Approaches to Learning. Communicating in Groups. Aims and Purposes of Groups. Group Activities. The Role of Tutor and E-Moderator. Learning Groups in Context. Assessing and Evaluating with Groups

About the Author :
David Jaques is an independent educational and organisational consultant, and an experienced groupwork and teamwork trainer. He was previously Head of the Educational Methods Unit at Oxford Brookes University. Gilly Salmon is a Professor of E-Learning at the University of Leicester, UK, and is author of a number of best-selling titles, including E-Moderating and E-Tivities. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2006.

Review :
'This is a truly excellent book. With a solid theoretical underpinning, it is wide-ranging, accessible, practical and, above all, useful...Whatever your role, if you want to enable groups to function and learn well, read and use this book!' - Bob Rotheram, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK 'What a great book! One of the all-time great writers on small group work joins forces with the queen of online learning. This book is readable, theoretically rigorous, practical, and excellently presented.' - Trish Greenhalgh, University College London, UK 'The book progresses well from the theoretical underpinning of group behaviour to assessment within groups and pratcial check lists for leaders. The online learning points are well integrated and not viewed as add-ons. In its general framework, the book is extremely coherent with excellent use of bullet points, diagrams, tables and shading to encourage clarity of thought.' - British Journal of Educational Technology