The ‘digital future has zoomed into reality’ as Enda Curran writes in Bloomberg. However, some teachers are challenged to deploy group assignments when their students are physically isolated. Furthermore, some students may be constrained in their ability to use virtual teaming and related digital technologies. Nevertheless, we suggest that in higher education, building students’ competence working together in teams, through virtual teamwork, has now emerged to become of vital importance for both their studies and future employment.
To support the requirement for effective virtual team assignments, we’ve created an infographic The 7 step formula for fair and effective team assignments. We have also supplemented our video resources for ideas about good teaching practice for team assignments.
Infographic – Teaching using team assessments
Our infographic summarises our experience as teachers using team-based assignments. We include our tips and checklists for using teammate peer assessment as one powerful tool to achieve fair and effective team assignments.
In summary, we advocate the following seven steps for successful team assignments in academia
STEP 1: PREPARE IT
Goal: Prepare the team assignment as an authentic learning experience
STEP 2: TEAM THEM
Goal: Build your class into equally-capable teams
STEP 3: TRAIN THEM
Goal: Train your students to give honest feedback accurately
STEP 4: SURVEY THEM
Goal: Create and distribute a peer assessment survey
STEP 5: MANAGE IT
Goal: Manage the peer assessment survey
STEP 6: FEED IT BACK
Goal: Promote courageous conversations among your students
STEP 7: IMPROVE IT
Goal: Improve the next cycle of your students’ team assignments
Download the full-sized high-resolution A0 infographic How to Teach using Team Assignments: The 7 step formula for fair and effective team assignments.
Video – Good practice for teaching using team assignments and peer assessment
We have presented several workshops in recent months about the ideas, theories, and practicalities of conducting teammate peer assessment.
View a video from our presentation Enhancing career-ready competencies in diverse teams through group peer feedback.
Abstract and slides here: Enhancing career-ready competencies in diverse teams through group peer feedback.
Abstract and slides here for our Digital tools for enabling developmental feedback and teamwork grading through teammate peer assessment.
On-demand professional development webinars
We have developed several online workshops that can be run at times convenient for your institution’s professional development programme.
We also offer an on-line masterclass and personalised coaching session to help early users advance their practice using teammate peer assessment. These sessions include a focus on identifying at-risk individuals, dysfunctional teams, and other advanced user features.
Please contact us for further details or visit our pricing page.
Video playlists
We’ve created new and improved videos related to both deploying team assessments and using the Peer Assess Pro platform.
Teammate peer assessment: A fast, fly-past
Overviews the key features of Peer Assess Pro. Useful to review if you haven’t used Peer Assess Pro’s teammate peer assessment solution for a while, or ever!
Training team members to rate each other through a teammate peer assessment rubric
Good practice hint! The use of any peer assessment process requires that the teacher gives students training in the use of the peer assessment rubric that will be used in their assignment work. Here’s a training example using the teammate peer assessment rubric used in Peer Assess Pro.
Turbocharge your team through teammate peer assessment and feedback: Cause and effect relationships
Illustrates how teammate peer assessment helps a team learn how to improve its performance. Illustrates the mutually-reinforcing influences of peer feedback, training in teamwork competencies, and the minimisation of free-riding behaviour.
Best practice for group assignments and teammate peer assessment [Playlist]
Ideas and theories relevant to teaching using team assignments and using teammate peer assessment and feedback as one element to achieve successful outcomes
Peer Assess Pro for teachers: ‘How to’ Guides [Playlist]
‘How to’ guides for the various steps required to use successfully the Peer Assess Pro platform.
Request a demonstration
If you’ve not had the opportunity to see Peer Assess Pro in action, we’d love to help you experience how our platform can:
- Raise team members’ employability competencies
- Calculate fair grades for contribution to group work
- Eliminate free-riding in group work
- Minimise risk of dysfunctional teams
- Identify students at risk of failure
Further reading and resources
Dodd, P., & Mellalieu, P. J. (2019, November 28). Enhancing career-ready competencies in diverse teams through group peer feedback. Ako Aotearoa New Zealand Conference Talking Teaching 2019: Diverse Learners, Inclusive Teaching, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland. https://www.academia.edu/40449713
Mellalieu, P. J., & Dodd, P. (2019, November 28). Digital tools for enabling developmental feedback and teamwork grading through teammate peer assessment. Ako Aotearoa New Zealand Conference Talking Teaching 2019: Diverse Learners, Inclusive Teaching, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland. https://www.academia.edu/40449600
Curran, E. (2020, April 15). Working From Home Gets a Glimpse of the Virtual Future. Bloomberg. https://www.bloombergquint.com/technology/world-economy-working-from-home-gets-glimpse-of-virtual-future
