Working collaboratively can be uncomfortable and bewildering, especially for developmental students. It is common for students to be anxious about their first experience with group work, and often they have a lot of questions about grading, cooperation, and what might happen if the group does not get along. The amount of time and variety of ways instructors spend preparing themselves and their students for group work depends on students' needs and the teaching style of the particular instructor. Some people work well in groups and some do not, and it is useless for a teacher to spend too much time trying to convince students of the virtues of collaborative work. It is far more worthwhile simply to divide them into groups and let them draw their own conclusions. One teacher reported that her students' writing became more coherent and grammatically correct as their group work progressed. A survey about what they thought of collaborative work indicated that among the benefits of working in a group the students perceived were (1) exposure to a variety of ideas, (2) an appreciation of the value of concise writing, and (3) the importance of detail. The success of any collaborative project depends upon the students involved, but judging from what these students reported gaining from working in groups, it is a worthwhile experiment. (Excerpts from students' survey responses are included.) (AEW)