Best practices for group work at ToU

What group work means at ToU

At Tomorrow University (ToU), group work is an intentional part of learning through challenges (including challenges with group submissions). It includes more than producing a shared capstone submission: you are expected to form a team, align on a shared goal, coordinate responsibilities, manage collaboration over time, and deliver together.

This is a core part of the challenge experience because working effectively with others is essential for real-world impact work. Group work at ToU helps you build and practice key competencies:

• Collaboration & teamwork
• Communication & stakeholder alignment
• Leadership & accountability
• Project management & coordination
• Conflict navigation & constructive feedback
• Reliability, ownership, and follow-through

Benefits of group work (what you gain)

Group work strengthens your ability to:

• Translate individual ideas into a shared direction and plan
• Work with different perspectives, styles, and levels of experience
• Create better outcomes through peer challenge, feedback, and synthesis
• Build confidence in leading, supporting, and delivering within a team context

Expectations

Shared responsibility

Group work is primarily the responsibility of the group. This means you are expected to organize yourselves proactively and take ownership of progress, rather than relying on the Challenge Owner (CO) or more proactive members to solve coordination issues.

Active contribution

Each learner is expected to contribute meaningfully to:

• The content (research, drafting, creating, editing, quality-checking), and/or
• The process (facilitating alignment, tracking tasks, coordinating meetings/check-ins, consolidating feedback)

Important: “Being in the group” is not the same as contributing. Each member should have clear ownership of specific tasks and follow-through.

Fairness and transparency

A strong group makes work visible and shared. Teams are expected to:

• Clarify who is doing what (and by when)
• Keep progress transparent (so the group can adjust early if needed)
• Address contribution gaps early (not in the final week)

Tips for successful group work

1. Recommended group size 4-5 learners is recommended. This size usually balances diversity of perspectives with clear accountability and smooth coordination.

2. Create a group agreement early A simple group agreement prevents most issues later. It should cover:

   • Shared goal and success criteria: What does “good” look like for your submission?
   • Roles: e.g., coordinator/facilitator, editor, quality lead, submission owner
   • Work split: How you divide deliverables and tasks
   • Decision-making: How you make choices (consensus, majority, “disagree and commit,” etc.)
   • Handling conflicts and contribution gaps: What you will do if someone falls behind or disagreements arise
   • Communication and scheduling: How will you communicate your progress and findings? How often will you hold meetings to discuss progress and next steps?

3. Use a clear Slack setup To reduce confusion and “lost” messages, set up your collaboration intentionally. Create one dedicated Slack thread (or a clearly named channel/thread structure) for your group’s work

4. Make work visible (so the group can self-correct) High-functioning groups:

   • Assign tasks with clear ownership (one person accountable per task)
   • Review work in small cycles (draft → feedback → improve)
   • Keep a single “source of truth” document (avoid parallel versions floating around)

Group work procedure

• Week 1: Use the first week, kick-off networking activity + Slack self-intros to find a group. Here, consider the research interest, experience, skills and ****working style fit of your peers to form the perfect dream team).
• End of Week 1 (Day 7): Group formed + first alignment message posted (next steps + first meeting/check-in).
• Start of Week 2 (Day 8): Learners who have not formed a group / have not engaged in the live session or slack must reach out to the challenge. If not, they may be manually assigned.
• By Day 10: Manually assigned learners must confirm participation (or switch to another group with space, if possible).
• By Day 14 (2 weeks after kick-off): If manually assigned learners have not engaged with their assigned groups or contacted the challenge owner, they may be removed from the challenge.

When someone is non-contributing or non-responsive (procedure)

Uneven participation can happen. The goal is to re-engage and troubleshoot first, and only escalate if needed to protect fairness and progress. Escalation isn’t punishment, it protects the group’s learning experience, fairness, and ability to deliver a coherent capstone submission. Please follow the below steps in the event of a non-contributing group member:

1. Reconnect early (assume good intent first)
   • Check what’s going on: unclear expectations, overload, missed messages, or uncertainty about how to contribute.
   • Ask directly (in the group space) and offer two concrete task options.
2. Make contribution easy and specific
   • Assign a small, clearly defined task with a clear outcome.
   • Agree on what “done” looks like and set an internal milestone.
3. Troubleshoot blockers
   • If they respond but still don’t contribute: give a quick recap + link to the “source of truth,” pair briefly for alignment, or resize the task to match capacity.
4. Set a clear boundary (and document)
   • Summarize in the group: what’s needed, what they own, and the next milestone.
   • Make it explicit that continued non-participation will require escalation.
5. Escalate to the Challenge Owner (CO)
   • Share a short factual summary: what you tried, what’s missing, and the impact on delivery/fairness.
   • The CO will support next steps per challenge policy (e.g., mediation, reassignment, alternative pathway, or removal if applicable).

At Tomorrow University (ToU), group work in challenges is a core part of learning: you practice how to align with others, coordinate under real constraints, and deliver shared outcomes. Not only does it enhance your capacity for impact creation, but it strengthens your connection to the ToU community through shared effort, trust, and peer learning.