Group Discussion
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Group Discussions
Short Description
Group discussions (GD) is as an activity in which a small number of persons meet face to face and exchange and share ideas freely or attempt to reach a decision on a common issue.
Group discussions may be also organised as an online activity and than any kind of discussion forum or other online tool is used as a “place” to meet and discuss.
Tools
If group discussion is organised in online environment than any kind of discussion forum or other online tool may be needed.
Scenario
A group discussion (GD) refers to a communicative situation that allows its participants to share their views and opinions with other participants. It is a systematic exchange of information, views and opinions about a topic, problem, issue or situation among the members of a group who share some common objectives. A member of group thought process is influenced by the views and opinions of the other members.There can be different types of GD:
- Topic based:
- knowledge required (the background knowledge of a subject is required for effective participation)
- knowledge is not required (Requires structured thinking, but subject knowledge is not required)
- abstract (requires out-of-the-box thinking, analogy and example-based discussion)
- Case studies: a structured discussion of a specific situation is given as a case.
- Group task: specific objectives are to be achieved as a group.
Group discussion may be moderated by teacher or another person (eg. one of the students may be chosen as a moderator) or teacher just give the subject for discussion, time limit and let group to discuss freely without any moderation (teacher is sitting aside and observe behaviours and listen to what each person is bringing to discussion).
Assessment
The evaluation is done by the teacher or an expert who is observing the activity.What is taken into account are the individual qualities and the group skills.
Individual qualities refer to the competencies that a person may demonstrate in or outside the context of a group. These are:
- content (what a person was saying during discussion?)
- Analytical skills
Reasoning skills - Communication skills
- Creativity
The group skills refer to those skills which can only be evaluated in the context of a group. They include:
- Listening skill
- Leadership quality: during discussions, one or two participants usually play the role of the anchor, in that they define the topic appropriately, offer the initial analysis of the keywords of the topic, and also try to hold the group together in pursuit of a common goal. Such individuals could demonstrate effective leadership, and score some extra points. However, one cannot score anything extra simply because one spoke first in the group, or was the loudest.
- Body language
- Group behaviour.
Additional Resources
Management Study HQ
What is a group?
Conducing Group Discussion
Management Study Guide Objectives of Conducting a Group Discussion
Handa Ka Funda Group Discussion – Definition, Tips, and other rules to follow
Connection with other methods
Peer-to-peer discussions
Table of King Arthur’s Crisis
Brainstorming
Debates
Problem-based learning
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eLene4Life supports curriculum innovation in higher education (HE) through the development of active learning approaches for transversal skills, with the ultimate aim of improving students’ employability.
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This project has been funded by Erasmus + programme of the European Union.
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The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This project No. 2018-1-FR01-KA203-047829 has been funded by Erasmus + programme of the European Union.
