It can be said that assessment is as much about evaluating educators (their teaching methods) as it is about evaluating their student’s performance, as well as offering constructive feedback on the student’s performance. Siemens supports this claim when he says that “When we [educators] assess, we aren’t just assessing our learners, we’re assessing ourselves as educators” (Laureate, 2008). This is so because through assessment, educators and learners are able to engage in self reflection to determine how well the information is being taught, as well as whether or not the information is being learned. Assessing collaborative efforts in collaborative learning communities is just as important as assessing the efforts of individual learners. Just as it is important that individual students meet/master the standards set forth when the course was designed, it is important for groups to achieve the same goals.
Palloff and Pratt (2005) says that “Given that well-designed online courses should be focused and centered on the learner, it follows that student evaluation within that course should be the same” (p. 42). Therefore, learners within a group should be evaluated both individually and collaboratively. For instance, to assess learners’ individually, educations can allow time for self reflection (as mentioned above) and the creation of a portfolio. With the reflection component, “students should be asked to reflect on their participation in the activity and their contributions to the group” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 32). Regarding the creation of a portolio, Palloff and Pratt (2005) says that “Creating a portfolio that includes both the individual contributions of the student and the final product is a good way for the instructor to assess how much work the individual student did and give the student an opportunity to showcase his or her work in light of the larger project” (p. 43). Overall, offering an individual component to a group project can be essential in determining exactly who is doing the work within the group project. For instance, if one of the group members does poorly on his or her individual assessment, then it could be determined that he or she did not make as big of a contribution to the group project as some of the other members, and thereby should not be given the same grade as the other members who possibly did the bulk of the work in the group project.
Just as learners should be evaluated individually when working on group projects, they must be evaluated collaboratively as well. Palloff and Pratt (2005) supports this when they say that “when assessing collaborative work…collaborative activities are best assessed collaboratively” (p. 44). Therefore, if one or more learners are not collaborating/participating in the group project as they should, they should not be allowed to remain in the group and receive the same grade as the group members who participated as they should. In an attempt to initially deal with this issue, the whole group should schedule a meeting to try to determine what the issues are and the best ways to solve the issues. If the non-worker(s) is non compliant and unwilling to produce after this initial group meeting, then the instructor should be notified and asked to get involved. It should then become the instructor’s responsibility to determine what to do with the non-workers. Furthermore, it is to the discretion of the instructor how the non-worker will be evaluated. Palloff and Pratt (2005) support this by saying that “after all, the instructor’s responsibility to record a final grade for the course and to follow up with those who are not performing” (p. 44).
In summary, Palloff and Pratt (2007) say that “The assessment of student assignments in an online course should not be the job of the instructor alone. Students should be asked to assess their own performance and to receive feedback from each other throughout the course” (p. 212). Therefore, assessment is critical in evaluating student’s performance and ensuring that they are achieving the necessary outcomes outlined by the course.
References:
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Building online learning communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
