Making Team Projects Work: A College Instructor’s Guide to Successful Student Groupwork

This user-friendly manual walks instructors step by step through the process of creating, assigning, and executing successful group projects at the college level.

Informed by a simple input-process-output model of group behavior, this guide provides structured advice, examples, and worksheets to design and facilitate effective team projects. Topics include assigning teams, developing meaningful tasks, fostering leadership, managing conflict, communicating effectively, and supporting teams in an online environment. Each chapter features sections and readymade handouts that speak directly to students, making it easy for educators to share content with their student teams and spend valuable classroom time teaching course material rather than team skills.

Whether in person or online, Making Team Projects Work will be a valuable companion for any college educator interested in incorporating group projects into their curricula.

Timothy M. Franz is Professor of Psychology at St. John Fisher University, USA. He has authored or co-authored five books, over 30 peer-reviewed publications, and countless practical articles.

Lauren A. Vicker is Communications Professor Emeritus at St. John Fisher University, USA. She has researched, published, and presented in the areas of group dynamics, professional communication, diversity hiring, and applied mass communication theory.