Toolbox
Group work
In general, one could say that all of the basic principles for the assessment of assignments that apply to individual students’ work apply to group work as well. Nevertheless, assessing group work has additional aspects to consider. Points to consider are, for instance:
> Will the group process also be assessed?
> Will individual teamwork skills be assessed as well?
> Does the grade need to reflect the individual effort and
individual strengths?
> Can you be sure that everyone contributed equally
and fairly?
> Can you be sure that everyone meets the learning objectives?
Gaining clear insight into group processes and individual contributions can be challenging, as much of the work happens out of sight. Fortunately, many useful online resources can help you design, guide, support, supervise, and assess group work. Below is an overview.
Overview of useful sources about group work
- Getting the most from Groupwork assessment - short leaflet. By ASKe.
- Using group projects effectively. An elaborate site about group work is offered by the Eberly Center of the Carnegie Mellon University. The following topics are addressed: benefits, challenges;
best practices for group projects; composing groups; monitoring groups; assessing group work; sample group project tools. Especially interesting is the overview of Grading Methods for Group Work, with an indication of the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods. - Group Work. UNSW Sydney. The page Ideas for Effective Group Work offers a useful quick guide to setting up group work. Some specific sites are dedicated to Assessing by Group Work. Noteworthy is a document this university uses to inform the students about the nature of groupwork, and to clarify what students can expect and what is expected. Another page is also worth looking at: Supporting Students to Reflect on Their Group Work
- Griffith Graduate Attributes: Teamwork Skills Toolkit. Griffith University: A very nice, comprehensive toolkit about "Teamwork Skills". It focuses on how you can help students to interact and collaborate effectively with others. On pages 20-23, it provides a table with all possible options for grading, such as: shared group mark; group average mark; combination of group average and individual mark, and more, with advantages and disadvantages.
- What is Cooperative Learning? Cooperative learning involves more than students working together on a lab or field project. It requires teachers to structure cooperative interdependence among the students. How you can organize this and ways for Assessment of Cooperative Learning, is explained.
- The assessment of group work: lessons from the literature. Professor Graham Gibbs.