This article, which references a recent major study on higher education, indicates that a lot of the current trends in higher education--such as group work--is probably quite worthless. Sitting down alone a few hours with a difficult book, a notebook, and a pen will probably do more for you than finishing a team project that probably did little more than require you to apply some currently fashionable ideas.
Want better students? Make them work by giving them difficult reading and writing assignments.