Educators are exploring more ways
to adapt the existing classroom model to reflect the demands of today’s
society. Although our society
prizes individualism, the workplace requires collaboration to produce a shared
product. This means that classroom
work that focuses on individual achievement is not reflective of the demands of
society today (Laureate Education, 2008b). The functioning of a collaborative team in a face-to-face
classroom or an online environment can provide many challenges for an instructor. In a balanced, high functioning team,
the process is transparent. What
does the instructor do when the team consists of diverse learners or when some
team members are not participating?
Assessment for collaborative work
needs to reflect a change from existing assessment models. In an individual assignment, the
assessment can concentrate on a review of the final product. This method fails to take into account some
of the most valuable components of collaborative work, however. For collaborative work, the assessment
model must expand past evaluated the product to reviewing the process. This assessment needs to be fair,
direct, and reflect comprehensive student outcomes (Laureate Education,
2008a). George Siemens proposes
four parts for an assessment model in collaborative work. This includes students assessing peers,
students receiving feedback from the online community, educators assessing
students based on their contributions to the team, and educators using metrics
from the online management system (Laureate Education, 2008a).
There are many suggestions for how
to achieve these goals in collaborative assessment. Many people believe that collaborative assessment is the
obvious approach needed for collaborative projects (Palloff & Pratt, 2005,
p. 44). This does not mean that
individual effort within the team should be ignored. One part of collaboration is learning to self-reflect
demonstrating growth as an individual.
The instructor can help the student with this process through the use of
portfolios and rubrics with clear expectations (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p.
42). The use of peer reviews can
help students evaluate the functioning of the team. When the team consists of varying skill levels, the
instructor should have clear guidelines in the rubric to evaluate personal
growth. Since the object of the
assessment is growth, the concept of fair and objective assessment controls the
process.
Even when group norms and clear
expectations exist, there are situations when a student refuses to participate
in the team. Members of a group
with a reluctant contributor can begin by encouraging the student and
maintaining communication.
Ultimately, the responsibility for intervention with that student rests
with the instructor, however. Part
of the group norms must include notification to the instructor when a student
is not adequately participating in the project. The instructor will need to conference with this student and
attempt to determine what steps would help them engage in the collaboration. Since developing collaborative skills is
a fundamental skill, student evaluation should reflect individual growth in
that area.
Some resources for instructors that
might help with collaborative work include:
The Carnegie Mellon website on the Whys and Hows of
Assessment includes suggestions and guidelines for assessing group projects in
educational setting.
The Rochester Institute of Technology provides additional suggestions
and options for assessment for online collaborative learning.
References
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. Principles of
Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2008). Learning communities. Principles of Distance
Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Palloff,
R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in
community. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Jeriann,
ReplyDeleteI agree that self reflecting is an important type of assessment and the use of portfolios is an excellent way of doing this. I liked your idea of members encouraging one another. Often times people may not be participating because of a situation or circumstance, and not because they are a passive learner or just refuse to participate.
I would like to thank you and Toni for extending your assistance I really appreciate it. Everything is fine now. About a two weeks ago, we had a sudden hurricane here in Maryland that knocked the power out. My area didn't have power for just about a week and a half. So now I am playing catch up. But once again thanks!