FEATURE Photo ©iStockphoto.comPhoto DO-IT-YOURSELF: SIX TIPS FOR DESIGNING GROUP WORK By Lindsey Wallgren and Robin L. Lindbeck

GROUP WORK. TEACHERS LOVE IT, STUDENTS There are many ways instructors ap- Tip #2: Establish Grading Criteria proach of group work. Following (MOSTLY) HATE IT. When instructors evaluate group work, are six tips to consider when planning to im- The benefits of group work in higher they primarily focus on the product or plement a group-work evaluation strategy. education are many. Groups often produce outcome. However, an important aspect deliverables that are of higher quality than Tip #1: Set the Group Rules to group collaboration is learning team- an individual could produce on his or work and how individual participants her own. They stimulate creativity by the and Expectations contribute in the group setting. This is nature of collaborative discussion. People Typically in group assignments, the partici- why peer, - and team evaluations are remember discussions better. Students pants jump in and begin the work. General- important to the process. are more engaged when they help prob- ly, there be one or two “leaders” who will There are myriad forms developed to lem-solve within a group, gaining a better start the discussion on how the assignment assess individual contributions in group understanding of themselves. Finally, will be handled. Because it is important to work. Some of these forms ask students to teamwork is highly valued by employers establish a team atmosphere in group work, assess themselves and their contribution (Burke, 2011). there needs to be an opportunity for the to the group process, some ask students Other benefits of group work might in- group to determine how the teamwork as- to evaluate how the team worked together clude ease of grading in large classes and pect of the project will be managed. to accomplish the outcome, and some peer-to-peer teaching and learning. There are numerous group-work assess- ask students to rate or rank their peers on However, students often dislike group ment forms and rubrics. However, these their contributions to the group project. work for the following reasons: there rubrics are often devised by the instructor All three of these are important to ad- may be pressure to conform to the group based on what he or she thinks is import- dress in group-work evaluation, with peer thinking; there may be one or more in- ant in the group dynamic. The students evaluation as a primary focus. It allows dividuals who dominate the discussion; themselves are rarely given over students to hold their peers accountable and it takes longer to accomplish tasks in the development of the criteria they will be to group outcomes in a non-threatening a group than alone. evaluated on. When devising a group-work way. The following tips provide additional What’s more, diligent students fear there rubric, a portion of—if not all—the ques- detail on how evaluation of participants in will be one or more students in their group tions should come from the group mem- group work can be created. who will not contribute. Therefore, they are bers. This can be done by tasking the group faced with a choice: pick up the slack and with coming up with their own set of rules/ Tip #3: Include Both Quantitative complete multiple portions of the group expectations or “norms” they will all agree work or allow their own grade to suffer. A to abide by. This could be made an assign- and Qualitative Questions way to mitigate this fear and eliminate this ment within the group project and given to Quantitative questions in peer evaluation choice is to implement a strong peer evalua- the group to complete before any work on are important to establish numbers related tion strategy in the group environment. the product/outcome is completed. to how peers perceived the participation

58 Techniques January 2017 acteonline.org FEATURE and contributions of their team members. one or more students prompting laboration, then the group score could be Qualitative questions in peer evaluation al- negative feedback on future work. given a higher weight. In addition, the in- low peers to give comments or constructive •• Only positive feedback: Students, fear- structor could provide a statement of scor- feedback to their team mates. ing retaliation, may score all peers high, ing for the group portion as “if a student is An example of a quantitative question even if some peers are not performing rated a 4.0 or higher on a 5 point scale, the to ask on a peer evaluation might be: to a certain standard. student will receive maximum points.” Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the In the context of group work, having highest, how did (name of student) per- To remedy the above, consider giving a a strong, proactive and intentional peer form in the following areas: mixed assessment, where anonymous qual- review/assessment process in place gives •• Contributed ideas to the final product itative comments are given to the student, students ownership. It empowers the •• Arrived on time to group meetings as well as the average of the quantitative more diligent students to focus on the (if face-to-face) scores. Encourage all feedback to be encour- learning and not the workload, and it aging and constructive. In addition, there provides accountability to students who •• Met deadlines established by group could be a space provided for additional might be inclined to participate less. It •• Encouraged group members feedback that is not shared with the stu- brings objectivity into the group process, •• Had a positive attitude dent. This would be helpful to provide con- prevents the instructor from policing the during the group project fidential communication to the instructor group and allows for a better overall learn- •• Performed assigned tasks satisfactorily should there be serious instances of poor individual behavior in the learning team. ing experience for students. These quantitative questions and ratings Conclusion can then be scored using averages of scores. Tip #5: Consider Multiple The tips mentioned in this article should It might also be helpful to calculate the Evaluations or Check-Ins mode and median of scores. There could Peer feedback does not need to happen help in creating a highly effective peer then be an objective cut-off used in these only at the end of a project. There are ad- evaluation tool to use in your classroom. ratings to determine grades or scores. vantages to deploying multiple mini-evalu- There are also online systems which will Qualitative questions could also be ations over the duration of the project. This aid in this process. One free tool, Peer- included in the peer assessment. These allows for interventions by the instructor assessment.com, allows for automatic could include questions like: if necessary, but at a minimum it allows deployment of assessments and immedi- •• How did Student X contrib- the instructor to gauge the progress of the ate ratings and qualitative comments for ute best to the group? group. These could include abbreviated ver- students. While not highly customizable, sions of the assessment. •• What are some recommendations/feed- it allows the user to ask general questions based on common teamwork challenges. back you would like to give to Student X Tip #6: Weight Peer Evaluation to help him/her improve in group work? Whether you choose to use an online tool, or devise one of your own, a proactive •• What other comments do you have Appropriately in Final Grade about Student X’s performance? Instructors will need to determine wheth- approach to developing effective teams in er or not the peer evaluation ratings con- the classroom yields a high impact learn- Tip #4: Address Anonymity tribute to the final grade of the individual. ing experience for all students. Tech A question could be asked: Should the av- in Feedback erage quantitative ratings translate direct- One of the concerns in group project Lindsey Wallgren is a CTE instructor in ly to a final grade, or should there be some Business and IT at the College of Western feedback is that there will be full transpar- room for interpretation by the instructor? Idaho, as well as a student of organization- ency. Therefore, a key consideration when For example, if a final grading rubric was al learning and performance at Idaho devising a peer or group assessment form devised where 50 percent of the grade was University. E-mail her at lindseywallgren@ cwidaho.cc. is to determine how much, if any, of the determined by the average overall rating of information will be shared with the stu- the student and 50 percent of a student’s dents/peers. The scoring sheet could be Robin L. Lindbeck, Ed.D., is assistant pro- grade was determined by the group’s final fessor of resource development completely transparent where the student product, a sample might look like this: (HRD) in the department of Organizational would receive all feedback with names Student X – Average group rating: 4.2 Learning and Performance at Idaho State attached. The advantage of this method is on a 5 point scale = 84% University. E-mail her at [email protected]. that the student will see all the feedback Group Z assignment grade: 91% REFERENCE from his or her peers, which, hopefully, Final grade for Student X: 87.5% will lead to improvement. Disadvantages Burke, A. (2011). Group work: How to use might include: groups effectively.Journal of Effective If the emphasis of the group work is on Teaching, 11(2), 87–95. Retrieved from: •• Retaliation: The student may receive the final product, perhaps it is given a high- http://www.uncw.edu/jet/articles/ a less-than-positive comment from er weight. If the emphasis is on team col- vol11_2/burke.pdf acteonline.org January 2017 Techniques 59