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When do group projects widen the student experience gap?

Published:27 June 2005Publication History

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a case study as a "cautionary tale" to faculty, demonstrating how students and instructors often perceive pressure to finish projects for clients. As a result of this pressure, and because students generally lacked any understanding of how to work well in groups, students selected their roles based on expediency or familiarity. This worked against the benefits of collaborative learning and learning new skills or concepts, widening the experience gap between males and females and across disciplines. Faculty should carefully consider the learning outcomes expected for students and find ways of ensuring they are achieved.

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        cover image ACM Conferences
        ITiCSE '05: Proceedings of the 10th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
        June 2005
        440 pages
        ISBN:1595930248
        DOI:10.1145/1067445

        Copyright © 2005 ACM

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        • Published: 27 June 2005

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