Greetings!
I noticed that several of you have made post about groups.
Having student group is an area where so many of us struggle to achieve a balance and I don't think there is a perfect way.
A couple of strategies that I have used:
1) Assign 2 or 3 students in a group on the first night of class and they work together the entire length of the course. So when it comes time to do the "big project", they have built a relationship of trust and are ready to work as a team. OR
2) I change group members on a regular basis so that students learn more about group dynamics. Then when it is time for the "big project", they are better prepared.
I have had successes with both. Usually depends on the mix of the class.
Would you please share some of your success stories.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I monitor the group and I ask each member of the group to grade their performance as a group.
I agree with you, I see the same thing occur when I have group projects. I have noticed though that a leader usually emerges from each grouped that has been formed.
I will usually personally evalutate them individually as well as letting the students evalutate their peers.
When I use group work for my class(es), I watch all the group to see how everyone interacts and participates in the activity. In the past, I have had students in the same group come up and say - this student isn't pulling their weight with the project. Then that student would come up and say - the other members in the group won't give me anything to do for the project. That's when I decided to do individual grades for the group project. I would give them class time to work on it during class and watch the dynamics of each of the groups - who truly participated and even who showed up for class. I do like the idea of peer grading as well. I may implement this for my next class as well as my observation of the groups and their presentations.
Greetings again,
This can be an easy task depending on the efforts of all students. There are times when students do not perform to standards or will attempt to do as little as possible. Groups know each others capabilities and we have to know each student. I will usually approach individuals that are not participating/working and help them reorganize their efforts. The team/group will always appreciate that from an instructor.
Greetings Frank!
How do you evaluate active or passive? What are other things that you could look for when evaluating individual effort?
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
by how students are either active or passive within the groups
I think having each member responsible for a portion of the project that they will receive an individual grade for works well in most cases. When I have had group members grade each other, results have varied from members who graded everyone but them self harshly to groups where they all agreed privately from the beginning to "give each other high scores".
I have students evaluate themselves and the other group members. After receiving these evaluations, I add my thoughts to the mix and then calculate a grade for each member.
In addition to my own observations, I have each student in the team complete a team evaluation form to be submitted at the end of their team project/presentation.
This evaluation form allows each student to evaluate themselves and each of their team members on ten separate criteria using a rating scale of i to 10. While an odd-number scale is generally preferred, this system allows a maximum score of 100 points, and generally reflects fairly accurately the contribution of each member to the group's overall performance.
I truly enjoy using this method in my own classes and have done so for many years. I normally lecture for about 1 hr. after which the class breaks into formal groups for the remainder of the class time. I go from group to group monitoring things like: individual student readiness, level of subject knowledge, quality of presentation, and I also monitor that they remain in class for the entire period.
I have them fill out evaluations on eachother and average out the responses for each student, I also have each memeber of the group specifically responsible for a portion of the project which they will receive individual grades on, so the work of others isn't reflected in their grade.
Always know your students; always mix and match; and always listen to your students.
I like to give the group the grade as a whole most of the time. Although it may be unfair, we all need to learn to collaborate. In addition, it is often the sum of the project that matters. If one person causes the wheel to come off, then it is a crash and burn and an F. The other students need to learn to make people accountable and may have to work harder to make up for others. Welcome to the world we live in.
Develop a rubric for grading the group and provide it to the group.
When I have groups in my class, I evaluate the group as a whole. The entire group is responsible for the output and the completed assignment/presentation. However, I have each group member complete a self-assessment consisting of their own perception of participation and output with the group work. I then also have them assess each other. With the self-assessments and peer assessments, along with my observations of the group, it helps me to fairly grade each group member on the activity.
In addition to peer feedback, I try to individualize the assignments as best as possible to either play to strenghts or managable weaknesses depending on desired outcome for the class. I either give the students or ask them to give me a written agreement of the division of tasks or benchmarks for the accomplishment of tasks, usually signed so that everyone can feel responsible for something.
When I do group work in my classroom I always give the groups time to work in the class. It that way I can observe the group dynamics and see if each member of the group is participating evenly or if only one or two are dominating the group. I almost always ask the group to present their work to the rest of the class. I find that this exposes those who did not participate as much and it highlights those who did most of the work. I also give a group evaluation form where students can annonymously grade each other to see how even the group work went. Sometimes they are not willing to rat out any of their group members, but I have found this to be helpful, along with the other thigs I do.
I monitor each group and gauge for which students seem to participating actively and which are passively "along for the ride."
