Managing & Assessing Student Group / Team Work Dr Kate Exley 2010.
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Transcript of Managing & Assessing Student Group / Team Work Dr Kate Exley 2010.
Managing & Assessing Student Group / Team Work
Dr Kate Exley2010
Outline Programme
Introductions, background and context Benefits and difficulties Key skills developed
Managing and organising groupsIssues of Assessment
The assessment focus Assessment strategies
Problems and workable solutions
A shared view (p3)
“Group work, under proper conditions, encourages peer learning and peer support and many studies validate the efficacy of peer learning…..
Under less than ideal conditions, group work can become the vehicle for acrimony, conflict and freeloading.”
University of Wollongong Assessment Policy (2002)
1. Peer learning can improve quality of student learning
2. Can develop specific skills for employment
3. May reduce assessment work
Australian Universities Teaching Committee
Three good reasons (p5)
Benefits in your discipline? (p4)
Which skills developed?
What benefits?
What possibilities?
What impact on staff?
Worries and problems (p6)
What are your main concerns about student group work and its assessment?
Common Difficulties (p7)
Lack of relevanceUnclear objectives Inequality of contributionOveruseDifferent learning stylesBadly managedSkills not really developedLack of progression
Considering difference
Disability issuesMixed ability Cultural differencesMature studentsPersonalitiesLearning stylesetc
Guidance on ‘group working’ (p8)
What issues would you include in ‘group working’ guidance for your students
Remember cultural differences and expectations.
… and what is your role?
Instructor / leaderFacilitator /guideObserver /
commentatorDrop-in monitorCounsellor / mediatorAssessor / Giver of
feedback
Managing GroupsFour Key issues
1. Putting groups together
2. Establishing Team roles & responsibilities
3. Time-tabled group meetings (recorded)
4. Clear processes & procedures
1. Putting groups together (p9)
How to build groups?a. Friendship / self selection groupingsb. Teacher assigned groups
(Socially engineered, streamed, etc)
What size of group?a. Is ideal?b. Is necessary or practical?
2. Group roles
Traditional roles
(chair, secretary, etc)
Task or Topic roles
(‘I will find out about A, you find out about B)
Group effectiveness
(What does a ‘good team’ need to function)
2. Group rolesBelbin and Belbin (p11)
CoordinatorShaperPlantMonitor-EvaluatorImplementerResource InvestigatorTeam WorkerCompleter Finisher (& Specialist)
3. Group meetings
Time-tabled
Provision of space
Guidance on running meetings
Process for running meetingsAgendas and MinutesSuggested framework & timings
4. Processes & Procedures
Need to be able to explain to students……..
Why they are working in groups and not individually?
How the group work will help them to attain the learning outcomes of their courses?
How their contribution will be assessed (fairly)?
4. Monitoring Processes
How will you know if the student groups are functioning?
What will you
do if they aren’t?
Purposes of Assessment
Measuring individual competenceMeasuring learning from the group
collaborationMeasuring group productivityMeasuring students’ abilities to collaborate
with others as a team
Webb,N.M. (1997)
Assessment of groupsThe four choices
Product or Process or Both?
What Assessment criteria (& who determines them)?
Who assesses?
How will marks be distributed?
The assessment variables
Assessment
Product
Focus
Process
Who
Tutor
1.Product
Tutor
2. Process
Tutor
Students
Product
Students
Process
Students
What Criteria (p15)
What criteria are important in assessing things that the group Produces, (e.g. reports, posters, websites)?
What criteria are important in assessing group Processes (e.g. how they work together and the skills
they develop)?
Task …. Assessing group products
Lets start by thinking about assessing group products - because its easier!
a. What can groups produce together?
b. Who can actually assess the product(s)?
Focus on Product(s) - Pros and Cons Table Exercise
Some approaches :-
Shared group markGroup average mark Individual mark - allocated task Individual mark - individual report Individual mark - examinationCombination of group average & individual mark
Involving students in distributing the grade (p19)
Students distribute mark awarded by the tutor (within a given range) (4X80 =320 marks)
Involving students in distributing the grade
Students distribute ‘product’ mark (e.g. 80) awarded by the tutor (within a given range?) (4X80 =240 marks)
Students allocate individual weightings 0 (zero contribution) to 1 (Full contribution)Or - 5 (less than) to 0 (average) to + 5 (more than)
Involving students in distributing the grade
Students distribute marks awarded by the tutor (within a given range) (4X80 =240 marks)
Students allocate individual weightings 0 (zero contribution) to 1 (Full contribution)Or -5 (less than) to 0 (average) to +5 (more than)
Anonymous peer marking sheets that the tutor uses to weight individual students’ marks
Involving students Students distribute marks awarded by the tutor (within a
given range) (4X80 =240 marks)
Students allocate individual weightings 0 (zero contribution) to 1 (Full contribution)Or -5 (less than) to 0 (average) to +5 (more than)
Peer marking sheets that the tutor uses to weight individual students’ marks
But what are the studentsreally assessing here?
Focus on Process - Criteria?
Attendance at meetingsEquity of contribution & division of labourCo-operationTime and task managementProblem solvingDevelopment of professional skillsListeningResponding to feedback etc etc etc
How can students evidence … Process …
Reports Meeting agendas & minutes
Testimonials Observations
Interviews Reflective pieces
Journals & diaries Achievement of set tasks
Application – Scenario (p20)
Please present the outline of your approach on a poster
Choose a group spokesperson to report back
Some useful follow-up resources
Johnson, D. W. and Johnson, R. T. (2004)Assessing students in groups : promoting group responsibility and individual accountability
A set of links to case studies and reports on assessing groups from Essex University
http://www.essex.ac.uk/assessment/group_assessment.htm