Student views on individual and group work Essay

Student views on individual and group work - Essay Example The study is based on international educational experiences of learners studying abroad; their opinions on the individual work and group work especially in the cultural diverse learning institutions also discussed. A comparison approach is used to define the different impacts of individual or group work in different settings internationally. Students from different backgrounds from the UK and abroad give their opinions on the importance of group and individual work. The students interviewed come from various countries namely: Poland, Kenya, Australia, China, and France. Previous research Students noted frustration with joy riders in group work especially in open-ended evaluation piece (Shumow, 2001, p. 35). Despite this, small group work in problem based learning was rated the best in promoting learning. The negative attitude towards group work among students developed from those learners who did not participate sufficiently to their collaborative groups (Skinner, 2010.). According t o this study, another issue raised involved students who did not seem attuned to the educational value of listening to what other group members had to contribute during sharing and discussion. The students were or pretended to be unaware that group members or their findings could be used as resources. This research also revealed that students were anxious about the sit-in classroom examinations; it appeared as if they needed more direct guidance. The recommendations given in this study included integrating the problem based learning throughout the semester to better the results of the students. This could be achieved through letting students solve problems as homework and individual assignments. Another way to achieve this is through using four problems as a unifying platform for each quarter of the course. Class discussions, tutor presentations and media shown in class could then be attached in the problem. A third possible way is to alternate group work with individual work during the course. And a last way is to let each group work on a different problem; the groups then present their answers in class while the class assesses the group’s work (Shumow, 2001, p. 36). The problem of joy riders could be solved through collecting notes and checking them in each class session to ensure that all students are participating in group work(Joughin, 2009).Nevertheless, this problem is bothersome and really challenging to handle since more resources are used in supervision. Moreover, joy riding suggests that the students could be unreliable workers in the potential market. According to Townsend, Long, & Trainor, 2011, group supervision and peer learning in social work field can be beneficial in other contexts such as professional, social, cultural, economic and political frameworks locally and internationally. Townsend, Long, & Trainor, 2011 studied teaching, learning and supervisory relationships that support group work and group assessment especially in field w ork. They had a lot of relevance in the Australian contexts. Group learning is vulnerable to group dynamics whereby different personalities and individual needs may affect the learning experience (Arfield, 2013). Furthermore, more dominant individuals in the group may inhibit on the ability of passive individuals to meet their own personal goals. Group work in learning requires the group members to be accountable and to minimise the group size (Light, Cox, & Calkins, 2009).

The Talented Tenth, by William Edward Burghardt [W.E.B.] DuBois, 1903 Essay

The Talented Tenth, by William Edward Burghardt [W.E.B.] DuBois, 1903 - Essay Example Furthermore, the viewpoint would most likely be somewhat anti-American – this is because he renounced his American citizenship towards the end of his life, and he also was decidedly anti-capitalist, becoming a member of the American Communist party while he still lived in America. All of this would point at a man who was not comfortable in his birth country, not comfortable with the economic circumstances of the country, not comfortable with the economic basis of the country's financial system, and not comfortable with whites, in general. Yet, he was also a person who was passionate about helping blacks become the best that they can be and passionate about assuring that blacks were economically, politically, and civilly on par with the whites in America.1 Discussion The document titled â€Å"The Talented Tenth,† which is the topic of this essay, is a primary source. While the book that features this particular writing, titled W.E.B. Du Bois Writings (1986), is a seconda ry source because the book itself was compiled by somebody other than W.E.B. DuBois. The article itself is primary because it was written by W.E.B. DuBois himself. If somebody had written about the ideas of W.E.B. DuBois, then this would be a secondary source. The actual writing is primary. The gist of the article is that the black race must be saved by ten percent of the black population, that is, the most talented among the population, and they must be developed so that they could become the best and lead the worst away from â€Å"contamination and death.†2 The problems and solutions of the article are complex. One of the problems is that there must be strict training for the talented tenth, and the object of training these men must be something other than economic or technical training.3 DuBois states that training these men only in economic or technical skills would be reductive and would not result in these individuals becoming men: â€Å"If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men; if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, men.†4 The solution to this is that the men would attain higher education that would provide them a well-rounded education – education that would not only increase their intelligence but also their sympathy and their knowledge of the world. DuBois also wrote that prejudice, in general, is a problem. That the whites in America believe that the blacks who are talented and intelligent, who are leading the black race, are the exceptions. As a rule, according to the white race, the blacks are purveyors of â€Å"death, disease and crime.†5 The solution that DuBois proposes is that the best and most capable of the black youth would be schooled at the best colleges and universities. DuBois acknowledges that society has the potential to be â€Å"pulled down† by the worst elements of the black race, whic h would fulfill the white's view that the blacks are ruled by those who are the transmitters of crime, disease and death, but his solution is that the blacks must be lifted up through the talented few who will be trained at these colleges and universities. Judging from the biography of W.E.B. DuBois, the assumptions were mostly borne out through