Project team: Elaine McPherson, Anne-Marie Gallen and Trevor Collins
The Group Work work package grew out of a need identified by the STEM Heads of School at the Open University (OU). They were concerned that group work was having a negative impact on some students with disabilities and that there was insufficient guidance relating to group work and disability. This concern was further echoed by student support staff.
Publications
McPherson, E., Collins, T.D. and Gallen A.M. (2019) Enabling Inclusive Group Work. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation. Preprint available here in PDF and Word format.
Resources
- Staff development materials for group work facilitators (usually Associate Lecturers in the OU context)
- Guidance for designers of group work activties (usually Module Teams in the OU context)
This guidance will support staff and students to move towards more inclusive approaches to designing and leading group work in STEM. Although the guidance was developed in a STEM context, the recommendations are applicable more widely.