In the process of creating better coherence between teaching and study group work we will promote group work and avoid the disintegration of study groups. This took place by developing forms of instruction that were directly aimed at the students working in groups.
The course had two lecturers as well as a student teaching assistant. In general the course was formed around exercises that the students solved in their study groups. These exercises fell into two categories, namely
The effect was on the one hand unequivocally positive, because it succeeded to a great extent in incorporating the students and getting them to work in study groups. We also assessed that the learning outcome was higher than with a more traditional lecture-based form of teaching.
On the other hand, we also had an expectation that this way of working would have a kind of 'spill over' effect on the other courses that the students participated in. However, that was not quite the case.
The conclusion thus appears to be that the students will readily work in groups when the teaching - anyway - invites this, but that they are prone to return to more individualised work methods as soon as there is no explicit incentive to work in groups.
Examples of questions for a text in a during-the-lesson exercise:
The text was from Helge Kragh, "Hvad er videnskab", in Hans Fink et al, Universitetet og Videnskab, Hans Reitzel, Copenhagen 2005, p. 145-181.
