The ability to work effectively in a team is seen as a crucial skill within many professions and industry sectors. There has been a rise in the use of assessed group work in many disciplines over recent years. There are numerous reasons for this increase, including larger class sizes (therefore making it efficient to have group submissions) and a greater emphasis on employability and transferable skills.

Despite this rapid progression, methods for assessing the individual contributions of team members have not advanced significantly causing a feeling of dissatisfaction amongst many students. Faculty are also concerned about the possibility of students gaining high marks because of their team’s effort, when the individual contribution was unsatisfactory.

An approach to collaboration will be introduced that teaches about team work by focusing on assessment criteria and peer evaluation aspects of group working. As the amount of group work that students complete continues to increase, enhancing their learning in this area helps them achieve more from project work and benefit from collaborative learning approaches.

By ensuring fairer grading for individual contributions to groups, students are less stressed by the challenges of team working and are better able to focus simultaneously on the project deliverable and team interactions.

The limitations of previous practice were also impacting on future teaching about effective groupwork as staff did not have access to reliable information about the issues faced within groups. If students are being asked to gain team working skills then staff must be in a position to teach them, and this involves identifying areas where individuals and groups are struggling. Thanks to this new system, faculty are able to give the students meaningful feedback about their team’s performance, offer advice based on areas where numerous individuals or groups struggled and improve their teaching for the following year.

Thanks to everyone who attended the session.