Assessing Group Work

“Effective cooperative learning requires the presence of two elements. First there must be group goals, so that the students are working as a group, not merely working in group. Second, there must be individual accountability, so that students cannot be carried along by the work of others.” (William, 2011) (As Retrieved from Instructor Jeff May’s comment on PIDP 3230 Course Forum/Hot Potato Topic Group Work)

            This topic caught my attention because of the issues that I came across in assessing group work last semester. In the second semester general chemistry lab, students spend four-week in group of four to complete a research project based on copper mining scenario. During the four weeks, students work in instructor-assigned groups, and submit group reports which account for the same grade for each individual member. The intention of the group assignment is to promote cooperative learning and develop team work skills. However, there were complaints about, such as, low-performing students in the group and mistakes that made by an individual, but causing low grades for all in the group. It revealed problems in both team building and group work assessment that need to be thoroughly considered, and sought ways to resolve.

            There is no doubt that group work is essentially meaningful in education. Students learn from clarifying and refining their understanding through discussion and debate. They develop a sense of responsibility (What are the Benefits of Group Work?, 2014). More importantly, it prepares students with the interpersonal, collaborative and organizational skills to become a successful team player in the workplace. All these benefits rely on the two elements as pointed out from the quote, team spirit and individual accountability. However, to achieve the learning objectives from group work, we instructors should work to assist in team building, establish clear assessment guidelines (Assessing Group Work, 2014) to ensure individual accountability, keep communicating with groups and individual students to resolve concerns and issues.

            How we instructors help build the team is the first question to answer from the quote. If team work skill is one of our objectives, shall we teach our students how to resolve conflicts and how to cooperate in a respectful manner? Unfortunately, we often times “assume” that students will naturally learn from their unsuccessful practice. Team building begins from determining group membership. Letting the students to choose their group allow the students work with the ones they know and trust. The students will be more willing to resolve the conflicts if they were the ones selecting their own group members. Suggestions can also be given regarding how to break down the project into individual accountability, what skills/personalities are needed for a particular task, how often group meetings should be held, and how to respectfully communicate within the group.

Instructors take the roles of administrator, observer and moderator in group work. One of the concerns from the students is that, the group work may not fairly assess individual contributions. For example, in the final “product”, students also include details of the “process”, such as, who did what, when they met, how they made decisions in the discussion. Instructor can also review the group logbook often, and praise those who carries heavier responsibilities. This arrangement can motivate each member to make a more significant contribution.

After thinking through the quote, here are a few things that I can do differently next year when coordinating group work:

-        Allow students to pick the group instead of grouping them merely based on the test scores.

-        Spend 20-30 minutes in class teaching how to work effectively in a group, team management and task management

-        Provide written advice, such as, how to break down the project into multiple equal amount of tasks, and assign to the right person

-        Encourage students to communicate with the instructor frequently to address concerns and problems

Assessing group work is different from assessing individual work. There are several options evaluating group assessment (William, 2011). To maintain assessment validity and reliability, it makes more sense to assess both product of group work and the level of interaction that has taken place in the process. Formative assessment should be conducted by instructor, through self-assessment and peer-assessment. This may need pre-established criteria that inexperience learners can readily apply. Learners can obtain timely, anonymously (if necessary) feedbacks, to function better in the group. In the summative assessment, I will award group mark as a base mark for individual, and adjust for individual contributions and peer assessed marks. Students should be clearly informed about the marking procedures and rationales at the beginning of the project.

References

Assessing Group Work. (2014). Retrieved from AUTC-Australian Universities Teaching Committee: www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning

Fenwick, T., & Parsons, J. (2009). Art of Evaluation, 2nd Edition, A Resource for Educators and Trainers. Thompson Educational Publishig.

What are the Benefits of Group Work? (2014, July). Retrieved from Design & Teach a Course - CMU: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/benefits.html

William, D. (2011). Embedded Formative Assessment. Solution Tree; US Edition edition .