Group Work
One of the biggest challenges my students seem to be facing is group work. Most seem to understand how to do the group work, but the problem is that there are some students who either aren't participating at all in their group or are only participating in a minimal capacity. This causes the students who are handling most of the work to become nervous about their grade and resentful toward the non-participating students. I know a lot of instructors base their grade on the group as a whole, but I don't feel that the hardworking students should lose points because some of their fellow group members are slacking off. However, that does add more difficulty to the grading process. Any thoughts?
Miranda,
You have been busy today! ;-) I'm glad. I typically do two things.
1) Assign individual roles to students in the group. I use the following:
Leader: They ask the group "How are we going to complete this project? Then, organizes the meetings, makes decisions, leads group.
Facilitator: Makes sure everyone is involved. They may have to send emails to talk to people or prompt them to participate. They must also participate (obviously)
Recorder: Records what decisions were made by group; sort of like a secretary. They can send out reminders about meeting or what should be done by what deadline. Of course the leader should too.
Reporter: This is the person that puts together everything the groups been doing (of course wiht help from everyone!). Then, he/she reports to the class or teacher (oral or written) or works with the leader to make sure everyone is involved.
As for the group grade/individual grade, I use a peer evaluation sheet. I don't know if I can explain it clearly here, but I'll try.
Step 1: Whatever the project, a rubric is used to determine the overall group project grade. For this example, assume the group project grade was assessed and a 90 was earned.
Step 2: Group members assess themselves and each other group member. These assessments are done anonymously among the group members. Only the instructor sees the completed peer assessments. The assessment is based on up to 10 points per item below for a maximum total of 100 per person:
Whether the person
was prepared for meetings.
communicated ideas clearly.
completed work promptly.
worked well with others overall.
exhibited dependability.
displayed a courteous attitude and listens carefully to others.
showed tolerance for others’ ideas.
took a leadership role.
provided quality contributions.
provided contributions in quantity.
Step 3: Each group member submits a peer assessment to the instructor for analysis.
Step 4: The instructor averages each group member’s ratings.
Example: Matthew, Candice and Jackson are the group members. The group members have rated themselves and other group members based on the peer evaluation as follows:
Matthew rated:
Himself 100, Candice 95, Jackson 98
Candice rated: Matthew 95, Herself 95, Jackson 100
Jackson rated: Matthew 90, Candice 90, Himself 99
Step 5: The instructor averages each person rating as follows:
Matthew: 100 + 95 + 90 = 285 / 3 = 95%
Candice: 95 + 95 + 90 = 280 / 3 = 93%
Jackson: 98 + 100 + 99 = 297 / 3 = 99%
Step 6: Based on each group member’s average rating, an individual grade is calculated for each student. Hence, each group member may receive a different individual grade on the project. The instructor uses these averages (percentages) and multiplies them times 90 (the group grade) to determine the individual grades as follows:
Matthew: 90 (group grade) * 95% (peer evaluation average) = 86 individual grade
Candice: 90 (group grade) * 93% (peer evaluation average) = 84 individual grade
Jackson: 90 (group grade) * 99% (peer evaluation average) = 89 individual grade
Step 8: The instructor records the individual grade for each group member.
It may seem difficult, because I had to type a lot, but it's really not and the students become responsible for their part of group work.
It's just something that works for me. I've been using this peer evaluation for about 15 years.
definately well executed on that one Dr.Tena.I usually ensure everyone participates the very similar way you'd listed. 1) appointing a leader of the group ensures communication and knowing progress of the group 2) topic that has been chosen has to be interesting 3) frequent reviews on the group performance and teamwork gives me an idea on the progression of the group 4) pointing out the weak ones and advising them on the importance in participating 5) alloting each member an assignment of the topic example in a medical research , i assign each member to look up on causes , prevention , treatment , signs and symptoms and putting all the information as a whole at the end 6)penalizing the least participant by asking him/her to do their own research by themselves
Sharmaian,
It's nice to see that others are doing similar things. You have great steps to follow.
Thanks!
Hi.I think we can keep our students working in groups,we just have to create a good work plan to keep them motivated.
Ms Melendrez.
Ms. Melendrez,
I agree that working is groups is important for students. What do you include in your group work plan?
I do split the grade between the group but throughout the course ask for outlines or drafts of the project to monitor the work. I give feedback so any changes can be made before the final project.
I do have the students grade each other but I do not grade lower based on another students comments. I encourage email communication with me if there is frustration amongst the team. I use the theory of a team approach in a work setting and how would they resolve their issues in that type of setting. Peers are harder on themselves than I am as an instructor.
Patricia,
Encouraging team work and making sure each member of the group understands their duties is excellent. I also use group roles so that students have responsibilities and know what is expected of them as an individual and as a group.
Thanks!
I agree with this approach as this was a problem for me as a student, and now as an instructor. I try to assign group projects that have individual rating, and a group score so that everyone is responsible for pulling their own weight. If a student doesn't complete their part, I can easily step in, and allow the rest of the group to get their deserved grade, and not be penalized. It's tricky, but important to do the extra work to help students be successful in working together.
Nicole,
You are right. Every individual should be the grade they earn. I don't care for social loafers and groups where one individual does all the work. It's frustrating. Thanks!
I can speak to this from both angles. As an instructor, the purpose of group projects is to get the team to communicate and share ideas on how a project will be completed. As we all know, the lesson learned is that there will always be someone on the team that will have minimal output on the project. From a students, perspective, It bothers me to see that those students receive full credit. One way to eliminate this is to have the students provide feedback on everyone's involvement in the project.
This is an issue in both the online classroom and the traditional classroom. I have found that I not only give a group grade but I also give individual grades. I also have individual group members fill out a group review sheet so they can voice their concerns about group members.
Faryl,
Yes, me too. I have a peer evaluation sheet that I use in which students evaluate themselves and their peers. This results in individual grades. This make a difference and helps more students stay on task and participate in the group. Thanks for sharing.
Hello Miranda
I found my biggest challenges during my group work.
Most students understand the team work. However, we can find the same students who would like to earn credits for "nothing".
Dr. Karina
Dr. Karina,
I use a peer evaluation to help eliminate social loafers in the group. Thanks for your input.
In personal experiences, I worked in f2f groups in college but never in an online group (never assigned), and as an instructor, I find myself apprehensive about assigning group projects. I believe that part of this is due to the fact a large majority of my students are new to online learning and have poor writing skills, regardless of generation or technological literacy. I would like to find a way to help introduce students to group work without overwhelming them. Keep in mind that my students vary from straight out of high school to mid-life career changes and most have me as part of their first or second semester, often their first or second course, so this is "ALL" to them. Does anyone have suggestions for such a situation? I'm open to hearing them!
Alaina,
I do group work online all the time. It can simply start with a discussion board group. Each group will have a certain thing to discuss that pertains to the content, a case study, etc. this "thing" can be the same for each group or different for each group depending on the learning outcome. Each group discusses only with each other and comes to a conclusion, solution, or whatever the case may be. Then, the groups creats a summary of what they discussed or describes their solution in a whole class through another discussion board posting so that all students can view the results. This way the one discussion board at the end only sees 4-5 (depending on enrollment) group solutions instead of possibly hundreds of postings on a discussion board if all students just participated in an open discussion. Hope this helps.
Miranda,
i find that group work is a challenge for many students and a challenge in grading for me. What I do is divide the total group points into 3 different sections. 1. for participation, 2. individual submission, 3. overall communications with the group. This way I am able to monitor all of the students' interaction and assess the appropriate grade. I hope this helps.
Faryl,
I have found that group work is much easier in the traditional class setting. I find that I become very frustrated with the group work, because it is difficult to make an impact with the students' online. Do you use the group sheettowards grading the final project? I mean is it a requirement for student's to fill it out? What happens if the feedback about particular group members is not favorable? Thank you.
Tina,
Great suggestions. It's good to acknowledge the individual submission as well. I do the same through a peer evaluation. Thanks for your input.
