Support for group work

The CSE is available to teachers, assistants and teams at UNIL who wish to equip their students with the skills needed to work in groups as part of their training. This support can take various forms (coaching, activities, advice, etc.) and aims to facilitate collaboration between students, promote awareness of the importance of group work, and evaluate the learning achieved together.

Teamwork is a skill developped through experience, reflection and the contribution of theoretical and methodological knowledge. By supporting students' group work, teachers ensure that the necessary guidance is provided so that students may achieve the expected results together, and encourage the active involvement of all group members so as to prevent free-riding and potential conflicts.

Our support focuses on the following 4 areas:

• Support for setting up group work as part of teaching personalised advice on decisions regarding the tasks assigned to students, the formation of groups.)
• Intervention in a course to raise awareness of group work among students, for example with an ice-breaker activity, the creation of a group work charter, communication exercises, discussions on the various phases of group work, presentation of awareness-raising videos, etc.
• Advice on evaluating learning related to group work (assessment methods and criteria, managing free-riding, etc.).
• Setting up a “neutral dialogue space” to help student groups in difficulty. In this space, students can express their difficulties and obtain advice, courses of action and methodological tools to improve the way the group operates. This space is set up as part of a support provided by the CSE to the teacher.

The duration of support varies depending on the type of support, but generally involves a 60-minute session with a pedagogical adviser. Appointments are scheduled within 5-10 working days.