Assessing Group Work in Arts based subjects

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Assessing Group Workin Arts based subjects

• A Learning and Teaching session for
• the Deanery of Arts Humanities

2
Big Questions

• Why assess group work?
• What are the problems associated with assessing
  group work in performance based subjects?

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Recurring issues from research studies

• Group formation
• Assessing individual contributions to the group
• Tutors can assess team presentations but may find
  it problematic assessing team research
• Agreeing what is to be assessed

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Recurring issues from research studies (ii)

• Distinguishing effort from learning
• Lack of self-awareness on the part of students
• Adaptability of students to different ways of
  working
• Interpersonal relationships between students
• Friendship, personality, physical attractiveness,
  racial, gender class bias, bullying/intimidation
  
• Free riding

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Recurring issues from research studies (iii)

• Institutional issues
• Weak evidence base
• Evidence not recoverable
• Open to contest/litigation
• May not conform to QAA procedures

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Formation of Groups- what social psychology has
to tell us

• Groups do not always perform better than
  individuals
• The complexity of the task affects group
  performance
• People in groups tend to work less hard than when
  on their own (the social loafing or free
  rider phenomenon)
• Members of cohesive groups are more likely to
  conform to the group norms or rules

7
Group formation- self selected or assigned?

• Wakelin (2004)
• Self-selected advantages disadvantages
• Research findings
• First year Psychology students assigned to groups
  on basis of their approaches to studying
  performed no differently to groups allowed to
  self-select

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Team working skills naturally evolving or
require training?

• Prichard, Stratford and Hardy (2004) research
  findings
• Team working skills need training
• Workload perceived as less when in groups
• Trained students outperform non-trained students
• Some question about transferability from one
  group to another

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Assessment Criteria the theory

• Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle
  for educational improvement. (Astin)
• Students are more likely to understand and act
  on criteria if they have helped to formulate
  them. (Freeman Lewis)
• benefits will be gained only if the criteria are
  manageable in number and distinct from each
  other (ibid)

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Free Riding

• How do you prevent free riding?

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One exampleAllocation of marks within a group

• Ask students to negotiate their own contributions
  within their groups
• They then advise the tutor of their agreed
  percentage of contribution and marks are
  distributed accordingly
• Encourages students to own group assessment
  problems
• Develops negotiation and assertiveness skills

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Assessing Reflection

• Avoiding problems in group assessment
• dont assess the product assess the process
  (Drew, 2005)
• This could be based on individual
  diaries/learning journals and/or records of group
  meetings
• however, probably best assessed through a
  reflective critique

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Plenary

• Returning to your Big Questions
• Why assess group work?
• What are the problems associated with assessing
  group work in performance based subjects?