Group dynamics [ LFSA2351A ]

Prerequisite : having acquired a sufficient level of proficiency in the subject area to be used as application area for this course and being accepted as a candidate for tutoring groups for a course in this subject area. Assessment: the student will be assessed on the basis of a report submitted by the internship supervisor and on the basis of the portfolio. Recommended reading: Jaques, D., Learning in Groups, Kogan Page, London, 1998. Forsyth, D. R., Group Dynamics (Fourth Edition), Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, 2005.

. Main themes What is a group and what do we know about the behaviour of groups ? Communication within a group What is learning ? Objectives and aims of learning groups Roles and behaviours of tutors Assessment of group work.

After completing this course, students will be able to manage groups of learners engaged in collaborative learning in a specific domain, under different learning conditions and in various learning environments. They will know how to create, develop, and maintain a suitable cooperation frame of mind among group members and they will know how to react when faced with various problems within a group.

The course consists in: an introduction to the behaviour of learning groups and to the roles of a tutor; an "internship" as a teaching assistant or as a tutor to manage groups of learners for a course in a subject area of the student's choice (approval of a professor responsible for the course is required); the work will apply various pedagogical approaches developed at UCL and will be supervised by a "internship supervisor" in cooperation with the course's teacher; continuous education, as a complement to the tutoring activity, in order to stimulate reflection on the roles of the teacher and of the group facilitator for the course; readings on various themes of interest. The student is expected to build a portfolio during his/her tutoring activity.