Recorder Duties |
1) You are an equal member of the group and responsible for individually participating in the work of the group in addition to your summarizing duties described below.
2) Select the common themes from the messages and echo them back to the group. Use the collaborative (group discussion) area of your WebTycho study group.
3) Highlight the areas of disagreement and see whether the group can come to a consensus (a consensus does not mean that everyone agrees - rather that no one disagrees so much that they would not allow a group, of which they were a willing member, to make such a statement).
4) If needed, encourage group members to comment on ideas proposed by one or two, but not addressed by the others (this is not to that the form of berating - just a gentle hint as in " Jean suggested such and such - do you have any comments to make). Obviously, each of us should be seeking out new ideas and commenting on them.
5) There is no need to repeat to the whole class every comment exchanged within a small group. You may of course direct questions to me any time there are questions you need to ask in support of your group discussion. This tends to mimic the way I conduct small group discussions in class.
6) Post your group's collective response by the assignment deadline to the WebTycho Conference and Main Topic notified in the weekly tasking message.
7) Advise me separately and directly if any group member does not respond or participate.
It is possible for Recorders to filter the input and report on only certain themes. But the point is that there will be certain common ideas within the small group. The group needs to come to a consensus on these at least. The statement and comments Recorders post to the class as a whole are to be a consensus rather than a listing of 3-4 individual views. [I also recognize that sometimes the group just does not click properly and in spite of repeated efforts, the Recorder cannot break through to a consensus. Those things to occasionally happen - and when they do, presenting the disparate sides is about all one can do.]
On the other hand, . . . if there is no disagreement and the same ideas are coming from everyone, then I would think we were examining the wrong subject. At such times the effort must be to stimulate the group to consider alternative views.
There are many times when Recorders might simply point out to the group where the differences are and seek explanations or clarifications to further develop the common ground.
In the end, the small group needs to be comfortable with the consensus to be posted to the class before I ask for comments on follow-on questions.
When you are a recorder, please, at the beginning of your summary message, do not list all the members of your group - I know who they are as do the other students from checking the assignment sheet.
Do list all those in your group who responded to the assignment, by name. Yes, I am of necessity interested and counting.
Also note the need to highlight in your posting on WebTycho the week and small group number you are reporting for (e.g., Subject: wk3_grp2; or Subject: wk7_gp1).
It is intended that each student will be small group recorder only a couple times during a course.
| Phil Richardson; prichard@faculty.ed.umuc.edu |
Revised
5 May 2004
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