So, you want to form an online study group? Research in the field of Educational Psychology shows that study groups improve learning. They allow you to explore new ideas, and can provide a sounding board for your own. They help teammates to share the workload, and to develop team skills that will continue to serve them long after graduation. And now, with more and more students switching from in-person to online classes because of the recent pandemic, the need for online study groups has never been greater. So, how exactly do you go about finding the right study mates online?
Find Teammates
Your best bet for finding the right study mates online is joining platforms that specifically cater to creating teams, like TeammateMe. TeammateMe is the optimal platform when it comes to forming, joining, and finding teams. First, sign up for free. Then create an online profile that tells people who you are and what your skills are. You can then decide to form a team and describe what your mission is, what skills you need to accomplish your goal, or look and apply for a team that suits you. The best parts about TeammateMe is that it allows you to rate and review your teammates anonymously. The peer rating scores allow users to make better-informed decisions when selecting the potential study mates. Platforms like TeammateMe have made it easier to find and create teams online. However, finding the right teammates is only the first step for building a successful study group online.
Create an Agenda
The success of each of your study meetings depends on your organization. You should discuss the exact time of the meeting, the material you are planning to discuss, what assignments and reading should be completed by the time of the meeting, and who is in charge of which sections. This prevents people from showing up to the team meeting without knowing what exactly is going, causing a lot of studying and discussion time to go to waste. You can even designate one of your teammates to create the agenda and share it with all teammates before the team meeting.
Get a Moderator
Choosing a team member to act as a moderator during a team meeting is very important to ensure that everyone’s opinions and suggestions are heard. Let’s face it when it comes to discussions, especially one the team is truly passionate about. People will likely talk over each other, and some individual’s opinions will not be heard. A moderator ensures that there is order and organization during the meeting so that it can be as productive as possible. Furthermore, the moderator does not need to be the same person every discussion. You can choose to switch them up during each discussion to ensure everyone participates in keeping the team organized. Moreover, you can choose to give the moderator a moderator badge to ensure that everyone is aware of them and follows their instructions.
Learn to Strike a Balance
When more than one person comes together to work on a team project, there is no way connections and relationships will not be formed. These relationships are vital as they help to create team synergy. Nevertheless, these relationships can sometimes lead to some study meetings turning into social time. Some socializing is both natural and healthy for strong teams, despite the potential for lower team productivity if it gets out of hand. Thus the trick is finding a balance. Teammates should schedule a time to interact and check in with each other during their meeting and then go back to your study time. With this, you get the best of both worlds. Students can get work done and interact with their new friends.
Spring into action— join TeammateMe today to find the study mates who are right for you!