Wilfredo, thanks for sharing your experiences with working in small groups. There are many common threads from other instructors I have encountered over the years and trust me when I say you are not alone in the challenges you have shared. Not sure if you have ever read “Leaving The Lectern: Cooperative Learning and the Critical First Days of Students Working in Groups” by Dean McManus but the book provides some great information on how to set the stage early for success when working with student groups. The important concepts to take away here is the reality that you have already made a huge leap in your active learning approach of getting your students to communicate with each other in group activities. The fact that not all students contribute equally is really a great teaching tool to expose your students to the “real-world”. It is rare that all employees of an organization contribute identical outcomes. It is this differentiator that allows some individuals to grow and be promoted within an organization or a career structure while others remain stuck or move from job to job. One of your roles as an instructor is to do all you can to motivate your students to contribute to their groups but it is also critical to provide non-threating explanations as to how those that contribute will be more likely to carryon such traits to a new job while those that choose not to contribute are losing out on learning critical communication and collaboration skills that could have a negative impact on their ability to be promoted and grow within a company or career field. Kindest regards and good luck with all future endeavors. James