3 Ways to Encourage Teamwork Between Students While Teaching Remotely
Tue 21 July, 2020
Teamwork is often ranked as one of the most valuable and desirable soft skills in the world of work. As we all know, the foundations of good teamwork skills start at school.
But how can teachers ensure pupils are still practising this skill when they are teaching and learning remotely? It's time to look beyond traditional classroom group projects and consider how technology can elevate the humble group project to new levels.
1. Let Them Show You Their Skills!
Students often know more about technology than teachers do! Whether it’s the speed they type at or their ability to get a school computer working when even your ICT teacher is struggling.
So, rather than asking for a simple PowerPoint, encourage your students to use whatever format they like, this could include filming and editing clips, or creating an animation. Trust them to show you what they have got. By giving students creative freedom, you can challenge them to test new skills, which encourages them to feel invested in the project.
Google Drives offers a perfect way for students to share any format without worrying about how others can access it. Meanwhile Google Meet allows students to do video calls and team meetings outside of class.
2. Democracy Wins Through!
Of course, as the teacher, you need to ensure that students are covering the appropriate syllabus, but a group project is a great opportunity to encourage democracy and initiative. Try to offer an opportunity for the class to be involved in choosing their project. You could do this by offering and large theme and asking them to choose a specific area, or by letting students submit suggestions and then voting on which they want to do.
The Jam board tool on G-suite offers a great way to facilitate class debate and mind mapping.
3. Encourage Teamwork by Setting the Example!
Show your students the importance of teamwork and collaboration by teaming up with another teacher from a different department and create a multi-department project.
This is great practice for students, as many university and workplace settings involve multidiscipline projects drawing on skills from a range of departments. Try to choose a department or subject that your class doesn’t do for maximum impact. Maybe combine psychology and business, or art and technology, or even be brave and try Ethics and RE with Science.
This gives students a chance to develop wider team working skills and to interact with students they might not normally work with. Google Meet and Classroom both support this type of cross-department working.
Above all make sure your students are invested in their projects, and that you can provide them with the perfect tools to make the most of remote learning.
Implement These Tools in Your School
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