Just assigning your students into groups will not result in a collaborative learning experience. The key is to assign specific roles to each student when groups are created. This approach keeps one student from taking over computer time while the other members of the group sit back and watch passively. You can also assign a Techie role to the most technology savvy student in each group. This student will be responsible for either troubleshooting technology problems or communicating them to the teacher if it’s something he or she cannot solve on his or her own.
Another important component is to have both group and individual outcomes in your lessons. Students can do group presentations or write a group report. To ensure that one student does not do all the work for the group, you should incorporate some type of peer review in your group project. The peer review should ask each student to provide constructive feedback on the quality of the other students’ work, as well as evaluate the extent of their contribution.