Be Prepared

Group Presentations and Report Writing

from https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/group-work-presentations-and-report-writing

Planning your group presentation

What are we going to present? What will the overall structure look like? How are we going to divide up the presentation? Who is going to present what? What audio-visual aids or handouts will we need? How will we introduce the presentation, link the parts together and conclude? How are we going to keep the audience interested, active and involved? (Adapted from G. Gibbs (1994), Learning in Teams: A Student Manual, Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford Centre for Staff, p.49.

In addition, you could provide groups with a checklist, such as the one below, to help them
develop a thoughtful and engaging presentation.

Checklist for group presentations

In planning our presentation we have…  Found ways to keep the audience interested  Avoided including too much content  Made it clear where we are going (at the start, linking sections etc.)  Made sure that each presenter states how their section fits in with the rest  Developed clear and appropriate visuals (PowerPoint slides, diagrams etc.) and handouts  Worked out ways to involve the audience (e.g. invited comments, encouraged questions)  Allowed time for questions, and thought through what people might ask  Summarised appropriately, outlining key points  Worked out how we are going to gauge what the audience already knows  Rehearsed our presentation and given each other feedback (checked timing etc.)  Prepared index cards or skeleton notes to refer to (rather than reading notes in full) (Adapted from Gibbs, Learning in Teams, pp. 50–51.)

Towards the finished draft As a group, discuss the whole draft: Is the purpose clear? Are the conclusions clear? Do all the sections fit together well? Does the report address the assessment criteria? Are all the required components covered adequately? Have we kept within the required word limits? What do we like about the report? What could we do to make it better? Make notes during the discussion and then decide who should do what. If only small changes are required, this might be best done by the editor for your group. As a final step, it can be useful to put yourselves in the role of the marker—make comments, give the report a mark for various sections and overall, and check it against the marking criteria. Alternatively, you could ask another group to adopt the role of marker and provide feedback on your report. (Adapted from Gibbs, Learning in Teams, pp. 54–55.)

Reporting on group processes

When students review and report on the processes of group work, they reflect on their experiences as a group and understand better what makes a group work well together.

You can ask students to write their report as individuals or as a team (or perhaps a combination of the two). Encourage them to draw on specific incidents and examples and take an analytical approach (rather than an overly descriptive one). Rather than focusing on content, students should consider the group's methods and processes and assess their effectiveness. They should concentrate on how the group worked as a whole rather than on individual members' actions.

Ask your students to reflect on their own individual role within the group: what their contribution was, what role(s) they played, how well they fulfilled their responsibilities and how they could work more effectively in groups in the future. Ask students who completed the exercise "What am I like when I'm in a group?" to complete it a second time and note any differences in their perceptions.

Use some or all of the following questions to provide a framework for students to report on the processes of group work.

Questions to help you review your group processes

How did you get to know each other as a group and establish ways of working together? What roles did you adopt within your group? How did you organise group meetings? How did you allocate tasks? What other strategies did you use for dividing up the worload (e.g. working in pairs)? How did you improve the effectiveness of your group? What challenges and issues did you experience as a group? What process did you use to write your group report and/or develop your presentation? What were your strengths and weaknesses as a group? What were your personal strengths and weaknesses as a member of the group? How would you personally do things differently if you were to work with the same group? How has this experience helped you to understand the role of groups in the workplace? What else have you learnt about working in groups? (Adapted from: Gibbs, Learning in Teams, p.57.)