by Patrick Dodd
I’m sure you’ll agree that 2021 is a year we are all intending to put behind us! Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present teachers with challenges to their practice. As teachers ourselves, we were especially challenged when deploying group assignments to students who were physically isolated and had restricted access to the full power of digital...
by Patrick Dodd
Employers want graduates who are work-ready. The work-ready soft skills most in demand include teamwork and collaboration, leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills. The ability to give and receive feedback is a paramount component of collaborative teamwork. Unfortunately, many teachers don’t teach these skills in university courses. Quite often we simply hope that students develop these skills on...
by Patrick Dodd
Following up on the blog post in which we presented the peer assessment rubric that is used by Peer Assess Pro, we have received a number of educators asking if they can add/remove questions to the Peer Assess Pro survey. The short answer to that is no. We chose to keep a standardised peer assessment rubric for...
by Patrick Dodd
If you find this rubric helpful, you can access a Google docs version of the Teammate Peer Assessment Rubric here. Glossary Crucial Conversations = create a new level of bonding and are able to transform people, situations and relationships. Objectives = are the actions or activities involved in achieving a goal. Outcomes = are what you want...
by Patrick Dodd
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5ZMCNJsr0o&list=PLrrxmJ7TOi8MG7zO6yPyxklvneFqdPfzO&index=2[/embed] There are both benefits and drawbacks to using group assignments in teaching. Some students loathe group assignments because they must deal with dysfunctional team behaviours such as freeloaders, dominators and blockers. From a teacher’s viewpoint, students benefit from exposure to different perspectives, they can perform at higher intellectual levels and they are given the opportunity to...
by Patrick Dodd
Peter Mellalieu is the Chief Technologist for Peer Assess Pro Ltd. Teachers have long used group projects to improve students teamwork skills and future-ready employability. Furthermore, teammate peer assessment is increasingly adopted to improve the fairness of the grades awarded for a group project and to minimise the risk of freeloading and other dysfunctional teamwork behaviours (Dodd...
by Patrick Dodd
What are the components of an effective group? Why do some groups thrive while others fail? Google’s People Operations Department wanted answers to these questions and commissioned a research project to find out. After several years of research and studying their own teams, Google’s research team found that while there are several behaviours that are important for...
by Patrick Dodd
Assigning group work in higher education isn’t about reducing the grading workload for teachers. When done right, group work can be a powerful teaching tool. There are four key benefits of why educators should assign group work: Enable students to perform at higher intellectual levels Provide exposure to new and different perspectives Achieve higher personal satisfaction Prepare students...
by Patrick Dodd
“Collaborative learning teaches students to work together when the stakes are relatively low so that they can work together effectively later on when the stakes are high,” Kenneth Bruffee. There are many benefits to effective group work. Kenneth Bruffee summarises one key benefit well. The ability to work collaboratively is not an innate skill. It must be...
by Patrick Dodd
When conducting group work, it’s essential to give feedback early in the project. This gives students time to improve before their final mark is provided at the end of the term. The most valuable feedback a student can receive when conducting group work is not from an educator, however, it is from their peers. What’s the issue...
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