The use of group roles for better engaged learning

When working with groups of learners one of the challenges is always keeping everyone on task. The problem is further exacerbated by the nature of human development which have learners who not only learn differently, but require various methods and levels of engagement, have their own values/beliefs and meaning of self, strengths and weaknesses. By engaging learners in group based activities, opportunities for cooperative and collaborative learning become possible. By extension this affords for a more learner centered approach to teaching and learning as learners interact to scaffold their knowledge and the development of social competencies.

When assigning roles in WebQuests, the assumed parts played by the learners as they engage in the simulated real world activity allows all the group participants to engage in  first person, real world exploratory perspective with focused activities which are in some way mutually dependent and contribute to a group project and articulated learning outcomes.

It is a good idea to do some research on the roles which learners will be expected to perform when designing WebQuests to ensure that the task the learner is required to perform matches the role and thus makes the learning experience as authentic as possible. It would make little sense to assign learners a role(s) for which there is no direct link to the topic under investigation or for which it would be difficult to find data or information. By utilizing roles each group member is able to present a different perspective to the group activity and thus positively contribute to the realization of the project goals.