This is the 8th post in a series titled ‘All Things Group Work’. The home page is here.
A lot of group member evaluations will seek to develop some or all of the graduate attributes of teamwork, communication, career readiness, self-awareness /emotional intelligence, as depicted in this illustration by Rebecca Smith from the University of Adelaide. In this series of posts, I present a range of variations of one of these central themes, rationalise why it may be of use, and suggest design strategies to maximise their use.
- ‘The group member was punctual and attended necessary meetings and other group activities’ – this falls under career readiness to emphasise this aspect of responsibility. When students neglect this criterion things usually go pear-shaped, so drawing attention via the rubric will encourage greater vigilance. However, in order to keep this objective, groups need to establish what punctuality means and agree on the number of meetings necessary for the project to be successful. Interestingly here, it is not a given that the number of required meetings will be understood – teams in any field struggle with this. The criterion may need fleshing out before the task begins, identifying what ‘necessary’ entails. It may be that there is an agreed meeting frequency and subsequent agendas before the task begins, with a clause that allows for emergency meetings if the project is off track. In a tutorial, discuss what it could mean to be overzealous in wanting meetings, how they can be run as efficiently as possible, and what to do if they are not working for all.
- ‘The group member was well prepared for group activities.’ – the need for this will depend on the design of the task, but again points to the need for students to develop a sense of responsibility in contributing to their team tasks, and to not waste the time of others. Understood group processes and required contributions will need to be established prior to the task beginning for this criterion to be effectively evaluated. A shared document that can be updated with comments along the way may help students stay on track.
The next post is about Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
I’m Paul Moss. I’m a learning designer at the University of Adelaide. Follow me on Twitter @edmerger or on LinkedIn
LEARNING DESIGN by Paul G Moss 