Students doing group work.

Introduction

Group work provides valuable opportunities for students to develop important skills. Collaboration is a significant component of many careers. For students to develop the skill of collaboration, it is important to both provide opportunities (e.g., a group project) and meaningful feedback and assessment.

Strategies for assessing group work

When introducing group work to students, it should be made clear to students the nature of how that group work will be assessed. Will the product and/or process be assessed? Will the group work be assessed by the instructor and/or group members? Will marks be individually or group assigned? Will roles be assigned to group members by the instructor, or will group members be expected to work together or negotiate roles? These are some of the questions that are necessary to address when designing and communicating the nature of how group work will be assessed.

Templates for peer-assessment of group work

Resources and references

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., Lovett, M. C., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bennett, L. M., & Gadlin, H. (2012). Collaboration and team science. Journal of Investigative Medicine60(5), 768-775.

Chan C. (2010) Assessment: Assessing Group Work, Assessment Resources@HKU , University of Hong Kong. Available at http://ar.cetl.hku.hk 

Davidson, N., & Major, C. H. (2014). Boundary crossings: Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and problem-based learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching25(3/4), 7-55.

DIT. (2008). Enhancing student learning through assessment and feedback: Assessment handbook . Retrieved from http://www.dit.ie/lttc/media/ditlttc/documents/assessment_toolkitv_07_04_2008.pdf

DIT. (2015). Guidelines on group assessment: Report of the working group on group work to college board May 2015 . College of Business Dublin Institute of Technology, 157.

Eberlein, T., Kampmeier, J., Minderhout, V., Moog, R. S., Platt, T., Varma‐Nelson, P., & White, H. B. (2008). Pedagogies of engagement in science. Biochemistry and molecular biology education36(4), 262-273.

Eberly Centre. (2002). Grading methods for group work . Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/groupWorkGradingMethods.html

Finelli, C. J., Bergom, I., & Mesa, V. (2011). Student teams in the engineering classroom and beyond: Setting up students for success. CRLT Occasional Papers29.

Gibbs, G. Learning in Teams: a Tutor Guide. Oxford, 1995.

Lejk, M. et al. A Survey of Methods of Deriving Individual Grades from Group Assessments. In Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. Vol. 21, No. 3, 1996.

McCrea, R., Neville, I., Rickard, D., Walsh, C., Williams, D. (2016) Facilitating group work: a guide to good practice. Dublin: Dublin Institute of Technology. pp. 4-8.

Methods for assessing group work. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo.

O’Neill, G. (2013). Assessment: Assessing group work (including online) . Retrieved from UCD Teaching and Learning: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/UCDTLE0065.pdf

Plymouth University. (2013). Guidelines for group work and its assessment. Retrieved from https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/2/2427/Guidelines_for_Assessing_Group_work_Dec_2012.pdf

Taylor, A. (2011). Top 10 reasons students dislike working in small groups… and why I do it anyway. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education39(3), 219-220.

Magna Campus Video and Supplemental Materials Resource

Seven Strategies to Enhance Learning through Group Work

Alternatively:

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