Collaborative Learning

Much of the work we do in life is done in groups or teams, thus assessment may include appropriate evaluation of group work or of individual contributions to group products.

Cooperative group instruction is used for a number of different reasons:

• to develop collaborative behaviors,
• to improve content understanding through peer interactions,
• to create a product that is large in scale and requires teams working simultaneously on different components, and
• to capitalize on the natural social tendencies of our students.

If teachers are trying to develop positive collaborative behaviors in their students, then their assessment tools should address those behaviors and provide constructive feedback to the students about these behaviors. If the group work is designed to improve individual content knowledge through peer interactions, then the assessment should focus on individual performance (although it may include a degree of peer accountability for the individual results). If the goal of the group work is a large-scale final product, then the assessment should address individual contributions and provide feedback to the group on the quality of the product.

Considerations:

• Provide a balance of individual and group accountability. Some students may become frustrated with too much emphasis on one or the other.
• One way to combine individual and group accountability is to ask students to learn a skill or content through a group process, assess each student individually, but continue to hold the group responsible for the success of all of the students in their group. This provides an incentive for peer tutoring.

Cohen, E. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom. Williston, NY: Teacher's College Press, 1994. Provides step-by-step approaches to successful planning, implementation, and evaluation of group work activities.