Assessment Design to Facilitate Groupwork and Collaborative Learning

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Assessment Design to Facilitate Groupwork and
Collaborative Learning HEA/ICS Annual
Conference, Kent, 2009 Vincent Perera School of
Engineering and Information Sciences Middlesex
University
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ABSTRACT The paper is based around innovations
during the development of a new module where
there have been opportunities to define content
and design modes of delivery, assessment and
feedback. Group work and collaborative learning
have been an important part of the course. With
individual work there is always a group element
to facilitate collaborative learning. Conversely,
with group work, the assessment design ensures
that individual work is adequately rewarded. This
has been achieved by a method of grading the
product of activities as well as the process by
which it had been achieved. The emphasis
throughout is that of a constructivist approach
where students build on knowledge incrementally.
The paper also draws on ideas behind systems
thinking to validate the approach taken.
Statistical Analysis of grades and other
qualitative information including students
responses are used to critique as well as suggest
improvements for the future. Keywords Groupwork,
Collaborative Learning, Constructivist Approach,
Assessment, Feedback
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CONTEXT

• Undergraduate Second Year Module
• Object Oriented Analysis and Design

• Why Change
• Current Work Difficulties
• Future.. Anticipated Changes
• Issues?

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Why Change
One problem for example, with the predecessor
module
Passes and Failures almost the same volume but
failures accounted for 30 only in number!
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Current Work (1) Outline

• Short Lecture/General Feedback (1 Hour max)
• Long 2 hour practical session split into
• Seminar/Review Questions followed by
• Lab Exercise plus on-line submission task

Most labs have a seminar area as well
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Current Work (2) Weekly Activity Sheet Format

• Week 7 Activity Sheet
• Review Questions for discussion (See Bennett Page
  72)
• What are the basic notational elements of class
  diagrams?
• What are the purposes of drawing class diagrams?
  Define what is meant by a class?
• Define what is meant by an attribute? What is the
  basic notation for an attribute? What other
  properties can an attribute definition include?
• Define what is meant by an operation. What is the
  basic notation for an operation? What is the
  notation for parameters of operations?
• What is meant by association between classes?
• What is the basic notation for a labelled
  association?
• What is meant by multiplicity? What is the
  notation for multiplicity?
• What is an abstract class? What is their use at
  the analysis/design stage (even if a programmer
  does not exactly implement it this way!)
• Problems (Based on Schach P 97 Ex. 5.5)
• Consider an automated library circulation system.
  Every book has a bar code and every borrower has
  a card bearing a bar code. When a borrower
  wishes to check out a book, a librarian enters C
  at the computer terminal, then scans the bar
  codes on the book and the borrowers card.
  Similarly when a library book is returned, a
  librarian enters R and the book is again scanned.
  Librarians can add books to the library
  collection or remove them. Librarians and
  borrowers can go to a terminal and determine the
  books in the library by a given author, all the
  books with a specific title or all the books in a
  specific subject area. If a borrower wants a
  book checked out, a librarian can place a hold on
  the book so that, when it is returned, it will be
  held for the borrower who requested it.
• Suggest suitable classes
• Taking at least three suitable classes, draw a
  Class Diagram (CLD)

Review Questions followed by a Weekly
Activity to complete and submit on-line
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Current Work (3) - Individual Coursework
Most individual work (in worksheets) based around
a single case study, each student works within a
group
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Current Work (4) - Portfolio
Individual Work (and any extended tasks) gets
stored as an individual portfolio of performance
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Current Work A further example
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1
1
2
3
4
2
What the student knows
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3
What the student researches and finds out
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Current Work A further example continued
1
5
1
2
3
4
2
4
3
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What the student now knows
What the student creates
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Current Work Group Coursework
Own Case Study Negotiate Requirement
Specification
Individuals take lead role for each activity
presentation/dissemination but the whole group
contributes
Coursework Group
Activity A
Activity B
Activity C
Grading 50 for Individual effort for Activity
(CONTENT) 50 for contribution to group
activities plus reflective observations plus
presentation (PROCESS)
Each Specialist spreads her knowledge within
group
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Current Work group activities
50 for contribution to group activities plus
reflective observations plus presentation
(PROCESS)
Inception Phase (10)
Elaboration Phase (10)
Inception Phase (10)
Double Marked
Group Presentation (20)
Additional opportunity to receive feedback
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Current Work group activities

• Collaboration
• Communication meetings, blogs
• Creating or finding own Case Study essential to
  activity
• All Group (as well as individual) activities are
  assessed
• Activities based around enquiry/active learning
• Individual/group feedback including at lectures

A variety of case studies Beauty Parlour Fruit
and Vegetable merchant
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Current Work Mid Course progress test

• Treated as a weekly activity for the purpose of
  marks
• Gives a further opportunity for students to do a
  second coursework

Whatever you do dont get rid of the progress
test that is when I really woke up and started
working Student (Ivalyo)
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Current Work Difficulties

• Attendancegood but
• Large Case Study at the start??
• Workload (16 Weekly submissions X 175 students)
  (50 group coursework) (1 whole week of
  coursework presentations) progress test over
  assessment?
• Communication and retaining consistency with
  parallel programs at partner institutions

IBL is not easycreates more work for both
students and teachers Effort worthwhile!
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Future.. Anticipated Changes

• Smaller case studies at the start settling in
  and group forming period
• Smaller derived activities (makes marking more
  manageable!) feedback immediate
• Group work meeting with tutor incorporated into
  schedule to benefit from feedback - student
  suggestion (Alice)
• Move the student presentation into (3) above so
  that students submit work having acted on
  feedback - colleague's suggestion (Chris)
• Bring an element of peer assessment into
  groupwork - internal moderators suggestion
  (Harjinder)
• Give more weight to the progress test say,
  worth 2 weekly submissions as opposed to the one
  at present?

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May 2009 Changes!
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Relating Steps and Stages to Checkland
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Summing up then
Task
Individual
Team
Based around Effective Innovation by John Adair
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