Welcome to the ‘Assessing Group Work’ course, which was developed with Aditi Garg an educational development specialist at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Click here to view the video transcript
Hello, my name is Aditi Garg, and I’m an educational development specialist at the University of Saskatchewan in the Canadian higher ed context. I work on effective teaching strategies and assessment methods across the curriculum. And today, we’re hoping to look at designing fair and valid assessment of group work, both of the process, the product, and the individual throughout. What challenges have you faced when assessing group work in your classes, and how have you addressed them? What do you want students to know about their group work skills and abilities?
Past instructors have told me that they want students to actively contribute to the sharing of ideas and information with their peers, and to demonstrate critical reflection through these discussions. Past instructors have mentioned that it’s important for students to grow their ability to critically reflect on their roles in the group, the responsibilities that they undertake, the impact of the decisions that they make, and what processes are effective and which ones aren’t. Collaboration is key for most careers and roles in society, so being able to meet timelines, cooperate, balance the give and take of group work, and receiving help is important for competent graduates.
Group work can be a powerful pedagogical tool, but grading it can be a challenge. In this course, you will explore how to design and implement fair and effective assessment tools for group work. You will also learn to align outcomes, activities, and assessments to evaluate group work. By the end of this course, you will be equipped to enhance your students’ collaborative skills and ensure fair assessment practices.
“Collaboration is key for most careers and roles in society, so being able to meet timelines, cooperate, balance the give and take of group work, and receiving help is important for competent graduates.“
Get Involved And Share Your Learning
- Share your perspective. Throughout this course, you will see discussion prompts at the end of each lesson inviting you to share your thoughts and experience. We encourage you to respond to these discussion questions and read those of other educators to benefit from theirs. When you see a comment you agree with or find helpful, hit the ‘Like’ button to help other educators find it. You can also reply to any comments from other members that you find interesting.
- Ask a question. You can ask questions of experts and other educators in the discussion threads in courses.
- Pick up your course badges. To earn your Course Completion Badges make sure you mark all lessons as ‘Mark Complete’ once you have completed a lesson. At the end of the course, click ‘Mark Complete’ and you will be asked a few multiple-choice questions to earn a Course Completion badge. Once you’ve had a chance to apply your learning, come back to complete an Impact Badges by applying what you have learned in the courses and answering a short survey.
If you have any questions or issues, please email us at [email protected].