Mapping Perceived Socio-emotive Quality of Small-group Functioning

This chapter demonstrates the influence of the socio-emotional quality of small-group functioning in a collaborative learning setting. It reports a case study from a sophomores’ class at a Belgian university. The subjects were 142 undergraduates sub-divided into 12 project-groups of 12 students each. Following a description of the collaborative learning setting, a longitudinal survey study focusing upon the evolution of the learners’ perception of their own group’s socio-emotional functioning is presented. The aims of the study were to map group member’s perception of the socio-emotive quality of their own group functioning and to examine if and how problems in groups of learners can be detected as soon as possible. Having demonstrated that dysfunctionalities within groups can be detected rather early, the authors hope that corrective interventions can be implemented when they can still have an effect.