When the group is formed, it's important to arrange a group meeting as soon as you can. This first meeting shouldn't be to start working on the project or assignment, but to agree some basic organisation and ground rules - think of the first meeting as a meeting about meetings and about how to approach the work.

All group members should write down their names & contact details. Here's an example template. This document should be circulated to all members of the group. Think about using an online space to store documents like these.

Group members should introduce themselves and say a little about themselves. Even if you know each other already, it's still useful to do this, as it gets everyone speaking.

Someone should volunteer to lead the discussion and another group member should volunteer to take notes. 

The group should also make sure that they understand what they're doing. You can for example, look closely at the wording of the assignment and making sure:

It's very helpful to have notes of this, so that is everyone is clear that they're clear and if they forget or are uncertain, then there's a document that they can look at.

Other things to think about discussing at the first meeting

You may not get all this thrashed out at the first meeting, but these need to be raised and sorted out early on.

It's strongly recommended that you draw up a group working agreement. Successful group work requires all members of the group know what's expected of them. Not just the work, but how they go about it. The best way of doing this is agreeing on a set of rules that all members agree to follow. You could include standards or guidelines on:

  Here's an example agreement showing what you could include