Dartmouth's Team Formation Tool
The Team Formation Tool, a Canvas app developed at Dartmouth, is a survey-based tool for the creation of optimized student groups. With the Team Formation Tool, instructors can create custom surveys designed to sort students into groups based on a cluster of predetermined criteria including time zone, teamwork and working style, preferred time of day to study, and more.
Each question can be weighted by not important, somewhat important, and very important, and the tool can be instructed to use responses to a particular question to sort students into similar or dissimilar groups. For example, a question about which time zone students are located in would ideally be used to sort students into similar groups so that there is less of a time difference to navigate for group meetings.
Once surveys have been deployed and groups are created in Canvas, instructors can then use group data to create pre-formed Zoom breakout rooms.
In addition to integration with Canvas and a workflow for using the tool with Zoom, what sets the Team Formation Tool apart from other survey and spreadsheet tools is an algorithm that parses student data and uses the question weighting parameters to sort students into strategic groups. While other spreadsheet and survey tools can be used to collect student responses to questions and then to sort students into groups using their answers, this process is time-intensive. Using the Team Formation Tool, well-balanced student groups can be created in minutes rather than hours, all within the same tool you use to manage your course (Canvas).*
Note: Team Formation Tool’s scoring algorithm works best with responses that can be sorted neatly into like and unlike categories. Not all of the questions you may wish to ask will be of this type, so some manual sorting may be required.
Team Formation Tool Survey Questions
The Preset Questions in the Team Formation Tool address several of the considerations that have been outlined in this article so far. Upon creating a new survey, instructors will have the option to add the following questions before creating their own:
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Is there anyone in the class that you do not want to work with? (Note: will require manual sorting)
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In which time zone will you be completing the majority of your coursework?
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How would you describe your teamwork or working style?
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What time of day (Dartmouth local time) would you prefer to work with your team?
Drawing on the research presented above, additional questions you may wish to ask could include:
Questions that can be sorted by the algorithm
Logistical questions
Previous experience / skills questions
Additional questions you may wish to ask
Logistical questions
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Is there anyone in this class you do want to work with?
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Are there any days or times you cannot meet with your group?
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What would make this group assignment accessible and equitable for you?
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How would you prefer to communicate with your group outside of class?
Previous experience / skills questions
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Please describe your prior experience with [insert course subject here]. Include pre-requisite courses.
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What skills or experiences do you bring to [group assignment] that haven’t already been addressed in this survey?
Personality questions
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What is something about you that is probably not true of other students in the class (for example, an unusual experience, hobby, skill, or interest)?
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What is your favorite [movie/song/book/other media]?
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What is your preferred pet?
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What is most exciting to you about [group assignment]?
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What are you most concerned about going into [group assignment]?
For more information
To learn more about the Team Formation Tool, contact learning.design.tech@dartmouth.edu. To have the Team Formation Tool installed in your Canvas course, submit a Canvas Support Request here, and enter Team Formation Tool Installation in the Short Description of Problem field.