Roles for Group Members

Roles and Responsibilities

The open framework and group work format for Challenge Based Learning make it important to create some structure for the participants. One way to do this is to make sure that the students understand the potential roles they can play in the process. This list is not meant to be prescriptive or definitive as the type of roles needed will depend on the nature of the challenge and the personalities and skills of your students. Students can, and probably should, have the opportunity to assume multiple roles during the process. Also, more than one student may be assigned the same role; for example, there may be more than one Research Librarian. Students will learn from each other throughout the process, allowing them to gain new skills in areas in which they may not have prior experience.

Project Manager—Manages the overall process, including keeping track of progress toward meeting project deadlines, team productivity, team morale, and so on.

Documentarian—Develops a structure and strategy for documenting the entire CBL experience through text, audio, and video. Works closely with the production team to capture key events.

Media Specialist—Manages the production process for all of the media captured during the process. Plans how best to capture, edit, organize, and distribute the media assets.

Product Manager—Responsible for managing the final deliverables including presentations, print materials, web products, videos, and so on.

Research Manager—Manages the development of guiding questions as well as the process and resources necessary for answering them. Collects and organizes content from the researchers. Works with the teacher to organize directed learning experiences and guest lectures when appropriate.

Researcher—Works with the Research Librarian to identify activities and gather resources for answering the guiding questions. Assists with documentation and sharing of the answers.

Public Relations/Marketing Director—Keeps all of the stakeholders informed about the CBL process. Keeps the school, home, and local community up to date on progress and events. With the assistance of school officials handles any inquiries from the community. Creates any necessary marketing materials for the solution.

Social Media/Collaboration Director— Manages the private and public online communities for the project. Works closely with the teacher and other managers to ensure that an online space is available for collaboration and documentation. Recommends, approves, and manages the use of public environments, including social networking and video distribution sites.

These are just examples of potential roles. The actual roles created and implemented will depend on the specific context of the Challenge and group of learners.