Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education
Students working in groups is a commonly used method of instruction in higher education, popularized by the introduction of problem based learning. As a result, management of small groups of people has become an important skill for teachers. The objective of our study is to investigate why conflicts...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
| Published: |
Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP
2011-12-01
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| Series: | Högre Utbildning |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/hus/article/view/4923 |
| _version_ | 1797766367522324480 |
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| author | Markus Borg Joakim Kembro Jesper Notander Catarina Petersson Lars Ohlsson |
| author_facet | Markus Borg Joakim Kembro Jesper Notander Catarina Petersson Lars Ohlsson |
| author_sort | Markus Borg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Students working in groups is a commonly used method of instruction in higher education, popularized by the introduction of problem based learning. As a result, management of small groups of people has become an important skill for teachers. The objective of our study is to investigate why conflicts arise in student groups at the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University and how teachers manage them. We have conducted an exploratory interdepartmental interview study on teachers' views on this matter, interviewing ten university teachers with different levels of seniority. Our results show that conflicts frequently arise in group work, most commonly caused by different levels of ambition among students. We also found that teachers prefer to work proactively against conflicts and stress the student’s responsibility. Finally, we show that teachers at our faculty tend to avoid the more drastic conflict resolution strategies suggested by previous research. The outcome of our study could be used as input to future guidelines on conflict management in student groups. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T20:23:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46a4f22f003540a3906d43bfc93725b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-7558 |
| language | Danish |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T20:23:16Z |
| publishDate | 2011-12-01 |
| publisher | Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Högre Utbildning |
| spelling | doaj.art-46a4f22f003540a3906d43bfc93725b52023-08-02T00:42:45ZdanCappelen Damm Akademisk NOASPHögre Utbildning2000-75582011-12-01121111244414Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher EducationMarkus Borg0Joakim Kembro1Jesper Notander2Catarina Petersson3Lars Ohlsson4Lund UniversityLund UniversityLund UniversityLund UniversityLund UniversityStudents working in groups is a commonly used method of instruction in higher education, popularized by the introduction of problem based learning. As a result, management of small groups of people has become an important skill for teachers. The objective of our study is to investigate why conflicts arise in student groups at the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University and how teachers manage them. We have conducted an exploratory interdepartmental interview study on teachers' views on this matter, interviewing ten university teachers with different levels of seniority. Our results show that conflicts frequently arise in group work, most commonly caused by different levels of ambition among students. We also found that teachers prefer to work proactively against conflicts and stress the student’s responsibility. Finally, we show that teachers at our faculty tend to avoid the more drastic conflict resolution strategies suggested by previous research. The outcome of our study could be used as input to future guidelines on conflict management in student groups.http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/hus/article/view/4923Group Work, Conflicts, Higher Education, Interview Study, Free-riders |
| spellingShingle | Markus Borg Joakim Kembro Jesper Notander Catarina Petersson Lars Ohlsson Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education Högre Utbildning Group Work, Conflicts, Higher Education, Interview Study, Free-riders |
| title | Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education |
| title_full | Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education |
| title_fullStr | Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education |
| title_short | Conflict Management in Student Groups - a Teacher’s Perspective in Higher Education |
| title_sort | conflict management in student groups a teacher s perspective in higher education |
| topic | Group Work, Conflicts, Higher Education, Interview Study, Free-riders |
| url | http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/hus/article/view/4923 |
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