Considerations For Implementing and Assessing Collaboration

Below are some considerations related to collaboration that you might wish to consider as you develop activities for your own courses, or for inclusion within your programs curriculum of study. Also listed are opportunities for assessment of collaboration efforts of the student, where applicable. ORGANIZATION OF THE COLLABORATIVE TASK Questions How many students should be on a team for the task? Instructional Considerations Experts suggest groups of 2-7, unless there is reason to make them larger (if so, include sub-groups). You need to balance the work of the task, peer pressure from the group, and opportunities for collaboration into your decision Avoid having students decide groups on their own, except for short tasks. Group by interest if the activity allows for groups to focus the task on this interest. Group by ability or learning style (for heterogeneous groupings) if you want to focus on encouraging communication and collaboration skills specically. Assessment Opportunities During the task, observe any work activities to see if all have roles and to see if efforts are equal. After the task, survey or interview students about their roles and ideas about optimal numbers. During the task, observe work activities to see how students will differing abilities/interests function with one another. Look for pairings of learning styles or interests that may be problematic. After the task, survey individuals on each team about their interaction with others, or hold individual and/or group interviews to discuss this.

How should I group the students?

INTRODUCTION OF THE COLLABORATIVE TASK Questions Would a group-building activity help to initiate the task? Instructional Considerations It depends on the depth of the task. Short exercises for a specic goal generally dont need skill-building activities. Longer project that will go beyond a class session usually merit an ice-breaker to help everyone in the group get acquainted, and some short exercise to help develop or review norms for the group exercise. Students should get the task and a rubric for grading at the start of the activity. Unless you know if students have reasonable collaborative skills coming into the task, provide a timeline for benchmarks before the nal product, and provide suggestions for communication, organizing workow, running a meeting, and conict resolution. Assessment Opportunities During this introduction, observation can help you identify early problems that might arise in group dynamics, such as formation of cliques or early separation from the group. These might lead to group re-organization or having you pay more attention mentoring or facilitating group work. After the task, asking students to reect on the value can be useful for future planning. During the task, set up intermediate benchmark deadlines for portions of the work to be reviewed for progress. These can be peer assessments with a rubric or guidelines for feedback, or you can review and give feedback. After the task, survey individuals on each team to see what they think might have been useful before the task was given or implemented.

What do students need to know at the beginning of the task?

INTER-GROUP COMMUNICATION Questions How do I ensure effective communicatio n among all members of the team? Instructional Considerations Set guidelines for how often groups should communicate on long-term projects. Designate a group facilitator who can get feedback from each member of the group. Provide a protocol for sharing ideas or making decisions that includes non-verbal feedback and discussion. Use technologies to stay connected with groups Assessment Opportunities During early stages of the task, observe the group dynamic and communication, especially if using protocols to structure this. Provide periodic checkpoint interviews or discussions to see if all members are communicating effectively. After the task, individual surveys/ interviews are likely to provide the most authentic information.

See the Use of Technology section below for technology based communication suggestions. GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL ROLES AND EFFORT Questions How should roles or functions be assigned? Instructional Considerations First, decide if there are discernible roles for the project, and if each requires similar effort. If so, you may want to assign these rst, especially on short-medium length projects. Long projects can also use this approach, or can rotate roles as needed. Try to rotate roles for individuals over several projects. Try to use common names for roles from task to task, so that the responsibilities of that role are easily recognizable. Outline responsibilities for each role as they relate to the task as a whole. Be prepared to evaluate individual and group efforts, and set up a grading policy and/or group reassignment as an option. Remember that the goal of the activity is to promote learning and collaboration skills. If one person is intent on not collaborating, the others in the group should not suffer the consequences if they make a reasonable effort to engage the individual. Consider an option for being red from a team (see below under conict). Assessment Opportunities Prior to the task, develop any descriptions for roles within a team, and ask students for feedback about their perceptions of the role. During the task, try to observe or collect student work that addresses the specic activities for each role. Student feedback (surveys, interviews, and journals) with specic questions that address their own role and the perception of the other roles can provide feedback about an individuals efforts on the team, and in what capacity they work with others. Encourage those with similar roles in the class to discuss commonalities about their roles during discussion. Prior to the task, briey survey students thoughts or perceptions about collaborative tasks. This may be done through journals, show of hands or other voting, discussion, or written response. This may give you a sense of those individuals who try to refrain from group activities. During the task, be sure to monitor group and individual progress through feedback opportunities to students (surveys, journals, meetings, etc.). Gather documentation from student work or feedback when you anticipate a problem, so that there is evidence if a change of task is required. Consider questioning specic individuals when observing a group to ensure that all students understand their roles, and that all have a voice in the group decision-making and learning. During the task, pose questions for discussion or written response regarding what is being learned along the way about content and process skills.

What happens when one member is not performing as needed?

How do I structure roles to support the learning of all group members?

Encourage roles that are oriented toward the work of the project or task, but not toward the analysis, decision-making, or evaluation of the group. Encourage rotation of roles within a group on long tasks, so that all people have opportunities to build skills and knowledge.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION Questions How should a group deal with conict? Instructional Considerations Help groups distinguish between conict over decisions about the content or process of the task and their efforts to complete the task. Encourage developing consensus over content ideas and process. Have individuals within the group each outline their ideas and concerns so that they can be addressed as objectively as possible. For longer projects that have more potential for problems (and likely more consequences for learning), establish checkpoints during the process of the task, so that such conict can be prevented. If conict within the group appears to inhibit the learning potential and goals, have a process set up to mediate the conict, involving each party sharing their questions and concerns on their own, and try to nd common ground. Try to consider an exit strategy if a team member is causing too many problems. Determine a policy for such efforts in advance, though sharing this at the outset of the task can be problematic for those looking for an early exit from a group. Assessment Opportunities During early stages of the task, observe the group dynamic and communication, especially if using protocols to structure this. Provide periodic checkpoint interviews or discussions to see if all members are communicating effectively. After the task, individual surveys/ interviews are likely to provide the most authentic information. During the task, try to observe early tension, or have participants journal or otherwise document their experience as they go. Often, student selfreporting will bring out intra-team conict early, especially if you are in the role of mediator. Do not grade based on conict, at least in formative stages, as this will limit communication about these problems with you when you would still be able to address them. After the task, make sure to allow for individual and group communication with you about the process. In student interviews or surveys, make sure to address how the conict affected the learning and progress of the group, not just emotions and dynamics. These are useful, but can cloud perceptions of the function of the group.

What if a conict starts to damage the learning goals of the activity?

FINAL PERFORMANCE AND GRADING Questions How do I address the difference between individual and group grades? Instructional Considerations Consider various models for grading that combine group and individual outcomes and efforts, with input for each. While the learning outcome here is about being an effective team member, it is best to try to focus on outcomes for individuals and the group. Include self-reporting and group decisions about assigning points options for students to address this at the outset. Include individual and group elements in the rubric for the task or project. Assessment Opportunities Prior to the activity, make sure to include opportunities to gather individual and group feedback about the process and about the learning taking place. These may take many forms, but will all provide feedback for grading decisions. If using a group decision about point allocations or other similar approach, request written documentation through individual and group responses, either through a common form, or other form of documentation. Though the grading is similar to assessment in ways, grading requires more documentation should a grade be challenged by a student. Use outcomes and the rubric to avoid concerns about subjectivity.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ONLINE COLLABORATION TOOLS Questions How is collaboration different when students use online tools to collaborate? Instructional Considerations Collaboration with online tools requires access and knowledge in use of the tool. Review possible tools and choose tools that best serve the collaborative function for the group, but are accessible by all. Online collaboration is similar in many ways, but can be more difcult to reach students who are not personally accessible. Online collaboration generally requires an introductory trust building activity to make up for the lack of physical presence. Recommend specic tools for collaborative work that allow you to review and observe progress as though you were a member of the group. If students are setting up groups on their own, ask that they include you in permissions to see their products as they are developed. Review the tools that are accessible through GRCC, and then look for commonly used resources (i.e. Wikis, Google Docs, Blogs) that might serve your needs. Avoid complex tools, which can limit engagement and result in you providing technical support instead of teaching. Assessment Opportunities Many online collaboration tools provide opportunities to log in to a site or document and view the content, which is useful for teachers when students are using these tools to complete a task or develop their project. Some tools are temporal in nature, only maintaining discussions or posts for a short time. In online collaboration, it is ideal to use tools that allow you, the teacher, to view and comment on both the product that a group is creating, and the discussion involved in creating that product. Log into the collaboration site regularly to note progress by individual students and the group. Note who is creating and posting content, and ask students to identify their contributions so that you can see individual progress and thinking as well as that of the group.

How can I monitor student progress when collaborative tools are used? What online collaboration tools are best for student tasks?

Before the task, review tools and look for the functionality needs, as well as opportunities to view group work through the tool. During the task, make a point of visiting the student groups online documents and discussions periodically, and make your presence known. Note who is involved and give regular feedback on progress.

REFLECTING ON THE COLLABORATION EXPERIENCE Questions How do I encourage students to learn from collaboration experience and reect on their individual and group performance? Instructional Considerations Build reective opportunities into the outcomes and timeline of the task. Encourage students to not only note progress on the task but to also address challenges in the process and why these might occur. Build time into the structure of the course to have a debrieng discussion at the end of the activity after feedback has been given to students. Encourage peer evaluations from other groups in the class, so that students are not passive during presentations or other efforts from other groups of students in the class. Consider questions for your own learning about the activity, and be open to critical feedback from students. Assessment Opportunities This is the culmination of the assessment process, and also represents an opportunity for students to provide feedback to other groups and to you for creating the collaborative task. Attempt to document the feedback gathered, either by recording discussions, gathering student responses or surveys, or other means, as you are otherwise likely to be an engaged listener responding to comments. This reverse role for the instructor can often result in either defensive discussion for the teacher, or gushing responses that are not critical or helpful in nature. Ask that students providing feedback identify evidence or reasoning for claims or opinions about the experience.