Introduction · The productive project group 9
     The project group as a professional practice 10
     Focus on actions - not on personality types and individual preferences 11
     Productive project work 14
     The book's structure and purpose 15

PART I · FRAMEWORKS FOR GROUP PROJECT WORK

1. What is problem-oriented project learning? 21
     PPL as an educational philosophy 22
     What do you learn from PPL? 24
     Expectations of a PPL student 26
     Summary 32
     Recommended literature about PPL 33

2. The learning theory of group work 35
     What is group work? 36
     Why group work? 39
     What does it take for group work to be a productive experience for everyone? 42
     Students' common understandings of group work and why it is vital to be aware of them 48
     Summary 54

PART II · WORKING IN THE PROJECT GROUP

3. The group meeting and facilitation 59
     Group meeting 59
     Facilitation - what's involved? 62
     Facilitation - how do you do it? 64
     Group member's work between meetings 78
     The first group meeting - the cooperation agreement 79
     The difference between a supervisor meeting and a group meeting 82
     Summary 84

4. Planning and project management 85
     Why planning and project management? 86
     The master plan: the overall framework 90
     The project plan: planning and managing project content and sub-elements 92
     Work plans: distribution of tasks and management of processes 99
     When the project plan or work plan goes pear-shaped 102
     Digital platforms 104
     Writing in project groups 105
     Summary 110

5. Handling challenges and conflicts in the collaboration 111
     Academic and interpersonal aspects of group work 112
     Typical causes of conflicts and how to deal with them 114
     The difference between constructive and destructive conflicts: an example 124
     What do we do in conflict situations? 131
     When collaboration must be discontinued 136
     Where can the group get help? 137
     Challenges with the supervisor 139
     Summary 141

PART III · THE GROUP EXAM

6. The group exam 145
     Why group exams? 145
     Learning objectives and assessment criteria 147
     Are the group's collaboration skills assessed? 149
     General criteria for a good university exam 150
     From the supervisor situation to the exam room 151
     Role allocation 154
     How can the group prepare? 155
     What can you give a presentation about? 157
     All presentations first or individual presentations with a subsequent discussion? 158
     The exam itself 159
     Summary 163

Literature 165

Appendix A · example of a project plan on a Gantt chart 167