In post-secondary especially, but across the board, is there a defense to using group projects as an assessment in education? Looking at you #Edusky and #Eduskychat, please help me understand. 🍎
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
Group projects can be good if they mimic what you'd do in an industry or job setting, I teach Game Design and I want all my students to work on a team and bring an original game idea to playable prototype, the work is just like when they work in the games industry so it prepares them
But I'm not assessing does EACH group member have mastery of ALL the material, bc I know they don't, they present what they did and how they did it, what they learn and what they'd do with more time
But I do see so many teachers, esp HS, make a group project out of something that should be individually done so you can know who knows what, and students tell me they are tired of that approach
That’s a great differentiation, because there’s certainly value in getting low-risk experience in a setting that’s as close to real-world as possible. The academic dynamic still exists though, yes? Real-world will have at least a project lead?
I've done group projects that included individual reflection prompts. The assessment came from the individual reflection on the process rather than from the end product of the group effort. I think it depends on the learning outcomes that are being assessed.
I could probably live with that, but, a genuine question, does a reflection on the group work give you an accurate depiction of my understanding of the concept and my ability to implement it?
I think it does a better job on the understanding of the concept. For the ability to implement it, no, I'd rather see them actually implement it. But it can also give a good idea of whether they can abstract their concrete actions into a general procedure or guidelines to follow.
My main issue is that it all begins with a false premise of authority. There is no single authority in the group, we’re all students trying to learn concepts without failing a course by numbers. I can’t make my group partners work harder or understand concepts better. I have no authority to do so.
Nor do I want them telling me how much or how little effort to put into my section of the work. That there can be no leader assumes that everyone has the same motivation and grade goal. You’re very unlikely to find people in post-secondary that are attending for the same reason with the same goal.
Comments