This is a hard task... The best I used in years is to assess the group performance, set the grade and then attribute the total points to the group (grade x group size). They will divide the points among them.

This is not new! But they will send me individual emails with their own view about the division, anonimously, and the individual final grade will be the mean. Since no one will know who gave which grade to whom, they feel free to give points accordingly to the real participation and the pattern of participation emerge.

For one of our modules, the lecturer gave us the criteria that will be assessed and at the end of the day all group members would be awarded the same mark. To avoid loafing, I think, all group members needed to write what contribution they made towards the assessment and all members needed to sign in agreement.

Dear Rita,

In the first, I avoid big groups, in the maximum 5 or 6 members.

Normally I indicate a group leader, a vice-leader and a secretary for each group. Furthermore (if have time) the group receive a "job rotation" schedule, for each member, taking at least once in a function in the group.

The group task is designed to have checkpoints, where the group work and members performance are assessed by the teacher and by the students themselves.

This procedures reduce the loafing, however not enough. The close monitoring of the teacher is crucial.

The final evaluation is made like Sandro shows in her good answer.

To avoid loafing, it is best to keep group small-- of 4 or under.

Also helps to maintain an individual progress tracker where each member records their contributions and though not graded, it helps team mates and instructors to acknowledge and confirm these contributions.

Avoiding total group grades; There could be 60-40% or 70-30% break up of the overall score allocated to group and individual performance. The individual performance tab could further be divided into self- and peer-evaluation. Peer-evaluation is best done anonymously and online.

Hi, Rita,

I would like to recommend my article, Designing Collaborative Activities for to Promote Understanding and Problem Solving (first link below), to be published in the next issue of The International Journal of e-Collaboration. I also use a rubric for Peer- and Self-Assessment of collaborative behaviors (second link).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251565304_Designing_collaborative_activities_to_promote_understanding_and_problem_solving?ev=prf_pub

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261831248_Peer-_and_Self-Assessment_of_Collaboration?ev=prf_pub

Please share what you developed. Meanwhile, I hope that what I've shared is helpful.

Sincerely,

Barb

Article Designing collaborative activities to promote understanding ...

Article Peer- and Self-Assessment of Collaboration

In the literature there are 7 steps performed by the lecturer while he forms a group. I think in these 7 steps the most difficult is the assessing all members of the groups systematically. ]

One option is Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). It is its own pedagogical system; you may not wish to use the entire approach in your course, but could pull out the useful group guidelines for your purposes.

One advantage of POGIL is that the assessment of group work specifically addresses the issues you described. All group work is done in the presence of the instructor. There is mutual accountability for full participation, prohibiting a group from attaining a high grade based on the work of one person. This approach took the confrontational nature of grading group work out of the equation.

In terms of how it is implemented, it is important to note that each component of POGIL works in the context of the whole. POGIL does include guidelines for group membership (e.g. no more than 4 students, each with a specific role), but those guidelines are only meaningful within the larger concept. For that reason, please see attached instructor guide if you are interested in how it is implemented.

I introduced POGIL to the laboratory component of our course after researching pedagogies that promote learning and performance. While students and instructors alike were initially skeptical, we were pleasantly surprised and ultimately found it to be quite effective. As with any approach, a small number of students did not like it, but this number was much lower than what you typically see for group work. On the average, students rated it quite highly as a learning tool and performed well in the course. We found it to be the most productive use of laboratory time. That being said, it is a full pedagogy that goes beyond simply adding a group project to an existing course. After reading about the overall concept, you may only wish to take certain aspects of it for your purposes.

Best of luck.

I use a combination of solutions - but only use groups for projects. It is all based on

- The course content

- The specific assignment and/or tasks

- The time in which the students have to complete the task

- If the group is cohort or if they are totally new to each other

Creation and assignment of roles and responsibilities

- Once those factors are considered I allow them to create their own groups and determine who will be the leader as well as what each member would do.

- I also give them arbitrary tasks during the term to get them to form because they are not a team at this point just a group of students

Team and Project health reports

- Once they get to their final project they have to grade themselves as well as their group members and this is sent to me - this is done mid project and end of project

- The team also has to provide a project health report midway and end of term also.

When the project is turned in they have to also provide a reflection on working on the project from a content and personal point of view...:-)

What I found works for me is to randomly assign students to groups; work with each group on the development of group norms of collaboration; request submission of a a proposal outlining how each member will contribute to the project; check 2-3 times on progress( collaboration and product); and request a reflection on learning and on their experience in the collaborative effort.

I have two documents that I provide to the students. First one gives them to choose from two options: 1) work together, one grade, no complaints about who did what, share all work, or 2) work by myself, cannot share with anyone else, do all work and get my own grade. I let students select their groups and the option they want to follow. This document is attachment Lab/Project Assessment Options. Note, that for all in-class lab work or projects that require group work students were working together, and the option was for the analysis/written part of out of class work. In some cases, in addition to the choice of working in a group or individually, I had them to sefl/peer assess their work in group. The form for that is also attached (Group/Self Performance Rating). Then, the final individual grade for each student in a group was counted as percent of common grade based on the attached document. This allowed me to shift responsibility on students about their work and avoid tons of complaints when I was one who assigned students to groups. Also, when working with lower undergraduate (freshment/sophomore), I had a rule that students with grade below 70 cannot choose group option due to their inability to contribute to the group. They had to raise current average grade to 70 in order to be eligible for group option. Hope that helps.

One more attachment to my message

Have reviewed all suggestions. Liked Monica's the best where u split into group mark (70%) and individual mark (30%). This precludes the arrangement that a strict marking memorandum is circulated and a clear distinction is made on group contribution summating with individual aspects conveyed to produce a final group/ individual hybrid report.

One important thing to keep in mind is that we can not loose all the time trying to develop a magical way to preclude loafing. It is important that students understand the value of the work. If, after all, they decide do not work, it is up to them.

We must to try new pratices, but there will always be a way to cheat and I do not think that this must be our main focus.

There is evident wisdom and experience reflected in the comments offered here. The one point I'd like to add has to do with trying to get students to think about the process they have engaged in, preferably through reflection. This can be achieved when devising a split award (ie x% for group mark + 100-x% for individual response) and the question asked of students in the individual response obliges them to reflect on and critique the process experience they have just engaged in.

The sort of thing I have in mind is illustrated in this publication:

Trevitt, Chris; Breman, Elinor; Stocks, Claire (2012). Assessment and learning: is it time to rethink student activities and academic roles?. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 30 (2), 253-267.

I have put together a framework for collaborative teams that is discussed in the reference below. The paper discusses a number of issues around team work including composition of the team, appropriate tasks, team cohesion, developing team skillls, using team contracts, team communication, reflection.

Developing team skills through a collaborative

writing assignment, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39:4, 479-495, DOI:

10.1080/02602938.2013.850587

Hope that it is helpful to you. There is a discussion there about different ways of assigning grades. The method that I used was to have parts of the assignment given a group mark and other parts having individual grades. This worked quite effectively in ensuring that everyone contributed.

We like to avoid group work as much as we can.  This forces each student to do his/her own work.  It eliminates loafers.  However, it is not always possible, so we stay with groups of two (best option), and as a maximum fa group of five.  Marks are then per group, and you can see eventually in the final exam who the loafers were.

Regards

Although they tend to dislike group work, I tell my students that knowing how to work in a group might give them an edge when they are in the workforce.  I decide who works together because they will likely be assigned to work groups by supervisors and, thus, need to be able to work with all kinds of people.  My favorite group assignment involves having 3-4 students do their own research on different aspects of the same topic.  Each creates one slide that is part of the group's presentation.  The group decides who will briefly introduce the general topic, then each student presents what they found out.  I alleviate the loafing issue by having each student submit their own slide that is graded separately.  It is obvious, sometimes painfully so, if one person in the group has not done their part, but it does not affect the other group members' grades.  Another part of the same assignment requires each student to write a short paper that goes into more detail.  

Besides having to reassure groups with members who aren't doing their part that the loafer will not affect their grade, I have had no student complaints and have even had some positive comments.   

Dear Colleagues, thank you for all your answers! We are now preparing the new academic year and your suggestions have been great help!

We've done workshops raising awareness for differences in personality and how different people address a problem in very different ways (eg, sympathizing with the emotional side of a problem vs focusing on a practical solution). One idea that I've been considering is to form groups based on their (matching) personality types to enhance the probability of the group members communicating well. I thought this might be a good way to provide them with a good first experience with academic group work...

Setting up and assessing group work is a complex subject. There is no one way to approach this as students have different prior experiences and are at different stages in their learning. We (UCD Teaching & Learning) have put together a resource on this.    See http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/UCDTLE0065.pdf

 It explores, for example, student roles; balance between the process (engagement of the student) and the product or the group output (poster, presentation).

See the above link to this , hope you find this useful.

http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/UCDTLE0065.pdf

Since  I teach geophysics, I have to encourage group projects, for my students have to learn to work in teams (crucial for the field works, for instance). I encourage them to choose a team leader and to organize and distribute the tasks  themselves. I also ask them to nominate just one person to be in contact with me and ask all the questions needed. It is  important to give students freedom in the way they organize among themselves and to let groups to organize differently, so they can compare different ways of work. Presentation of the results is also very important, I try to make it as a small celebration of a work well done, so students can feel proud of  what they achieved and as an encouragement and motivation to do better next time.

Hi Rita

We have put together a resource for staff on this, see is this helpful to you. All the best with this, Geraldine O'Neill 

I prefer to call group work collaborative instructional activity. I do so because it has to be carefully structured to assure that all in the group have meaningful participation and that responsibility and accountability are both individual and collective. I prefer gorups of 4, and at the end of the project/activity, students need to report in detail their participation in the group.