Groupwork: Strategies Adopted By Students

This paper presents an account of preliminary research into strategies, especially in the area of communication methods and technologies, adopted by students undertaking group projects within the Computing and Technology disciplines.The research forms part of a five-year study of the types of support students want and find useful in an innovative curriculum. The study is being carried out by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Active Learning in Computing (CETL ALiC), a collaboration between the Universities of Durham, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan and Newcastle, whose primary focus is on active learning through group- and project-based work.Initial findings indicate that students adopt communication strategies that are easily and readily available with which they are most familiar. The choice of strategy appears to be unaffected by the presence within the group of students with identified Special Needs.