Hannah Whaley

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Groupwork AssessmentLearning and Improving

• Hannah Whaley
• Assistant Director Library and Learning Centre
• University of Dundee

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What will you learn in this session?

• Reflect on Group Work
• Changes in Higher Education
• Group working benefits
• Problems with assessment
• New Assessment Model
• Group assessment for learning
• Building block for Blackboard
• Potential and Benefits
• Student feedback
• Staff feedback

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Clarifying Group Work

• Not the same as Self and Peer Assessment (the
  Blackboard system)
• Involves critical analysis by the students (self
  and peer assessment)
• Main difference what they are assessing
• A piece of work (Self and Peer Assessment)
• Their own performance in a group (Groupwork
  Assessment)

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Group Work in HE
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Working in groups
In University Teaching
In the Workplace

• Everyday occurrence
• Numerous teams
• Continuous support

• Specific context
• Defined teams
• Limitless projects

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What does it mean to students?

• New experience for many
• Challenging and stressful
• Difficult to harness power of a group

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Why do we use group work?

• Efficiency for teaching staff
• Learning for students
• Complexity for students
• Preparation for real world

less resource
maximise impact
see more students
mark less
empowered
peer learning
constructing knowledge
accomplish more
larger projects
problem solving
breadth of knowledge
higher order skills
employability
team based workplaces
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Changes in HE

• More online working
• Harder for lecturers to see the group dynamics
  in action
• More frequent use of groupwork within modules
• Can students use this to develop their skills
  within a particular group?
• Can they transfer these skills to other groups?
• More complex tasks and division of work
• Harder than ever to provide individual marks for
  collaborative work

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Challenges in assessment of group work
Exclusions
Take Overs
Free Loaders
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Problems with assessment

• Few changes or adaptations in assessment methods
• Most common is the division of 100 marks between
  the team and the assessment mark is weighted
  accordingly
• Often paper based, causing administrative burden
  if anything more than basic information is
  gathered
• Often completed in class, or has to be agreed
  upon by team members
• Resented by students, and causes a great deal of
  stress

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New Assessment Model
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Groupwork Assessment System

• Electronic system to provide anonymity and
  automation
• Independent of the assignment relates to any
  group activity
• Staff member creates a groupwork assessment
  online
• Student logs in, and marks themselves and their
  team against a range of team working criteria
• Students can leave comments about the group
• Staff member can view collated results for the
  group

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Results View

• Overview of each team member who has completed
  the assessment
• Average score for the team
• Calculates how each student differs from team
  average
• Group assignment mark can be adjusted to reflect
  individual contribution

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The innovation
monitor
support
Group Work
assess
teach
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Monitor
Regular overview of each group in the class
through summary pages Quickly identify who has
completed the assessment Compare individual mark
to Group Mark View detailed information about
each students team work
The data provides insights into the group and how
it is working
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The innovation
monitor
support
Group Work
assess
teach
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Support

• Data from students allow problems to be
  identified
• Staff can raise these issues, or provide
  additional support
• Used prior to staff meetings with group to focus
  discussions

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The innovation
monitor
support
Group Work
assess
teach
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Teach
Introduces students to important aspects of group
work Gets students to reflect on their team
working Used early on in a project to introduce
good practice
Harmony
Communication
Management
Support
Completion
Contribution
Participation
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The innovation
monitor
support
Group Work
assess
teach
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Assess

• Choice of marking scales
• 1-5
• 3,2,1,0,N
• Percentages
• Averaged across self and peers
• Formative or semi summative use

Staff input grade for group, system suggests
moderated grades for students, comparative to
group average Staff can moderate by marking the
group final mark is 50 staff mark, 50 average
student mark
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Development of Building Block

• Developed in conjunction with faculty and
  students
• Iterative development process
• Open access web based system initially
• Currently being revised for Bb9
• Benefits of Bb9 revision
• Advanced group areas
• Links to Grade Center
• Familiarity of interface

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Potential and Benefits
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Benefits

• Provide staff with more information without
  increasing the administrative burden
• Give students a chance to provide clearer
  feedback about their group
• Provide the lecturer with the means to issue
  fairer grades
• Empower the lecturer to provide better feedback
  and teaching based on group performance
• Introduce an element of privacy for the students

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Enhancement to student learning

• Enhance collaborative learning experience for
  students
• I have realy enjoyed working with the group, and
  I feel that we work wel together even thouh there
  are clearly areas for improvement which will try
  to wrk on next semester.
• Introduce more teaching about team working skills
• I think our group had troubles before but
  they're definately getting better and people are
  more willing to listen to other peoples point of
  view.
• Facilitate the recognition of individual
  contributions to team projects
• I realise I didnt do well in my group

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Potential for Use

• Over 1000 students used it in the first year
• Reimplementation each year used across all year
  groups
• Learning and Teaching Tool for groupwork skills
• Grading of formative/summative assignments
• Feedback on group progress ahead of meetings
• Research purposes
• Other?

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Further Enhancements

• More statistics!
• Developing further intelligence in the system
• Facilitating customisations to group criteria
• Add further research support

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Summary

• Group Work in HE
• The Groupwork Assessment System
• Potential Uses and Student Learning
• I extend my thanks to colleagues across the
  University of Dundee who have adopted this
  software and worked with me to embed and enhance
  it

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