Grappling with Group-work & Persevering with Peer

Assessment

Alison RudzkiBusiness School

UCOL – Palmerston North

Background

• Bachelor of Applied Business Studies –

launched January 2005

• Two majors – Management and Marketing

Marketing Communications Paper

• Level 6 paper – Marketing Communications - the way in which organization’s attempt to communicate with various target audiences through advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations and direct marketing.

• Aim: To develop students with the knowledge and practical experience to work effectively as marketing communications practitioners upon graduation.

Developing an appropriate Teaching and Learning Strategy, and Assessment Strategy

• The ‘applied’ nature of the degree

• Lecturer experience as marketing practitioner and academic

• Collaboration with other marketing practitioners

• Scanning marketing vacancies and graduate employment literature

Teaching and Learning Strategy

• Give students real experience of real marketing communications projects

• Engage students in deep vs. surface learning

• Demonstrate the value of reflective practice

• Simulate the workplace by engaging students in group-work

• Develop a range of transferable skills relevant to marketing communications practice

Deep versus Surface Learning

• What do students need to learn? Which methods/resources are most relevant?

• Lectures, reading, case studies, research, discussions, games, role plays, video, websites, practical examples, exercises

• More focus on ‘Doing’ rather than ‘hearing how to do’

• Feedback on class exercises and assessment

• Students would be able to judge their progress and understand where and how they might improve

The value of self-reflection

• Donald Schön – The Reflective Practitioner – proposed that knowledge is acquired in the midst of the action itself

• Self assessment – improving student learning by passing on skills of evaluation and critical judgment – Hilary Burgess

• Weekly reflection on key learning

• Reflection on practical tasks carried out

• Reflection on professional development through formal self/peer assessment

Engaging Students in Group-work

• Essential in Marketing Communications profession

• Collier and Gross-Davis – students working in groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain information longer

• Group work is a feature of most classes

Problems with Group-work

• Different levels of individual commitment to the group

• Resentment on the part of those who feel they are undertaking most of the work

• Some fail to participate at all

• Group can completely break down

• Students can feel powerless

• The lecturer can spend huge amounts of time trying to sort out problems!

Development of Transferable Skills

• Adaptability and transferable skills

• Communication and presentation skills

• General team-working skills

• Use of Information Technology

• Organisation and Planning

• Problem Solving and Decision Making

• Research Skills

• Stress management skills

• Time management skills

Assessment Strategy

• Inextricably linked with teaching and learning• Consider the appropriate assessment of learning outcomes early in the

course design• Combination of formative and summative which dovetail with the

teaching and learning strategy

• Give students real experience of real marketing communications projects

• Engage students in deep vs. surface learning• Demonstrate the value of reflective practice• Simulate the workplace by engaging students in group-work• Develop a range of transferable skills relevant to marketing

communications practice

Four Assessments

• In-course test – summative assessment to test understanding of basic concepts (10% final mark)

• Two group projects – formative assessment that comprises written work; and a presentation where the BABS teaching team and the class give general feedback, the lecturer gives specific feedback, and self/peer assessment forms an integral part (25% and 35% (with 10% allocated by self/peer assessment)

• Final exam – summative – multiple choice and short answer questions to test application of knowledge; an essay question which requires students to reflect on their learning (30%)

Project work

• Take on the role of a marketing management team

• Work with a real organisation to research and develop a marketing communications plan

• Outcome – a Creative Brief – which provides an outline of the creative tasks an advertising, design or media planning agency would used to develop their solutions.

Project work

• Reversal of roles - advertising, design or media planning team

• Respond to the Creative Brief previously produced

• Present a media schedule, timeline and budget

• They succeed or fall, based on their initial recommendations = real consequences

Grappling with Group-work

• Group self-management system

• The system is in place for the benefit of students

• Gives students ownership of the problem and a way of formalising group problems if necessary

• The system works – it flows into the allocation of marks

• Based on the game of football…

• To issue a card, at least 50% of the group must agree this is the most appropriate action

• Students are expected to be sympathetic to ‘personal problems’

• Yellow card – can be revoked once = 25% reduction of marks

• Red card – cannot be revoked = 100% reduction of marks

• Students can appeal if they feel unfairly treated

• Lecturer works with the group to reach a fair outcome

• Lecturer’s decision is final

Self and Peer Assessment

• Students are required to rate themselves and their colleagues against a list of key skills/attributes

Indicators/examples are provided to help students understand what is required e.g.

Organisation and Planning

Indicators: deadline met; accurate minutes; evidence of good time management skills; regular attendance achieved; evidence of task allocation and prioritisation between team members; goals set and achieved; evidence of short term and long term solutions applied to the assignment

Self and Peer Assessment

• It maximises the opportunity for students to reflect on their own learning and from each other

• Learning takes place through constructively critiquing their own and others’ work in parallel

• Helps students to provide constructive feedback

• Enables students to take responsibility for monitoring their own learning and development

• It can provide a first step towards independent and autonomous learning

• It can be personally motivating

• Aids the understanding of the assessment process

Some people believe that assessment is the responsibility

of the lecturer…

What about self and peer assessment?

• “I thought this was good. We usually just talk about the subject

and I don’t’ normally think about things like how well organised I

am. But I know its important and I know I’m really good at

some things but now I have to concentrate on time

management because its important when looking for a good

job. My time management was all over the place in the project,

so it was a good lesson.”

• “I think some of the other groups cheated and gave each other

really good marks, but we couldn't see the point. I mean, the

marks were there for a reason, youre just a loser if you cannt

see that.”

• “We should of been able to give ourselves more marks”.

• “It was a bit weird trying to think about what you’d done… usually do it in my own mind when I get assignments back, but I’ve never done it like this I know you need to have these talents… good to have a list… it was embarrassing at first when we were talking about each other…okay in the end…quite good because we were all honest with each other and now I know that I need to work harder on my organisation and on doing power point… because you said it would be important when I get a job”.

• “It was painful. But no gain without pain. Cool bananas.”

• “I not like very much, but think it is a good idea”.

• “I think I learned quite a bit about myself when I did this, usually I don’t bother, I just can’t wait to get the assignment out of the way and get on with the next one. I suppose I really thought about what I was doing this time”.

• “It was probably a good idea because employers arent just looking for a degree. They want to know you have skills and can do the job. I’ve put the list on my CV so I can put in some examples from college for when I go to interviews”.

What do the students think about group work and the group management system?

• “I hate working in groups, its not fair because you always get

stuck with people who don’t work hard. But I thought the cards

were awesome. We nearly gave a yellow one to one of the

dudes but he sorted his stuff out when he found out and did

some cool stuff in the end.”

• “I’ve always tried to get out of group work, but it was actually ok

this time cos we could do something about it. We had power.

Its cool to be treated as a adult for once”.

• “We didn’t use the system, we didn’t need it, I think the fact it

was there really helped. I wish we’d have had it when we did

(another paper) because we had a real egg in the group and we

couldn’t do anything about him and we ended up with a crap

mark which wasn’t fair.”

What do the students think about the paper?

• “I can’t believe how much I have learned. I did half of this paper

at another (name provided) university before I moved down

here, but it was all theory and when I got a part-time job in

marketing I was really struggling. Since starting here I’ve done

lots of different things and my boss is really pleased because

now I can help more. She even let me do all the marketing for

one of her events and she was really rapt with the posters and

the press releases I did”. (2005 cohort)

What do the students think about the paper?

• “I am learning a lot from BABS paper and think it will really

benefit me in the area of employment. I thought working with a

real business was very hard, but they give me lot of help and

now offer me some work which will be very good for me I think”.

(2006 cohort)

What about the organisations?

• “ What a refreshing change to get a group of students in who

actually know what they are doing. Students are usually pretty

good at writing plans, but this lot could actually implement them!

They’ve saved me a lot of time and money and I have a whole

list of projects for your students next year.”

• “The team came up with some fantastic ideas. The costings

and the plan were extremely helpful as I had initially dismissed

radio, but now realise it’s an affordable option.”

• “I basically took their brochure and went straight to print –

saved me a lot of hassle!”

What about the organisations?

• “ The students had some great ideas. I wouldn’t be able to put

a lot of what they came with into operation as it currently

stands, but they certainly got me thinking about some new

ways of reaching the market and I’ll be picking up on a few of

concepts.”

What about the course lecturer?

• Students reflect more on their learning and are closer to

becoming reflective practitioners/autonomous professionals

• Giving students the power to allocate marks based on self/peer

assessment will encourage them to take it more seriously

• Students actively learn new skills e.g. constructive feedback

• Students learn to work in a team

• I spend less time sorting out group ‘problems’

• I spend less time explaining to students why they have

achieved the given grade

• Students provide an insight into group dynamics – which I can’t

always see = more holistic approach

A word about group-work

• It’s too hard to manage…yes it’s REALLY HARD TO MANAGE – but the benefits far outweigh the downside, and it’s something graduates need to be able to do…

• Try letting the students MANAGE for themselves?

• Accept that you might need to intervene – and how you will do this

• Accept that it won’t always work well

• Think hard about why you are introducing it in the first place

Common Myths about self and peer assessment…

• Introducing self and peer assessment reduces your workload…WRONG!

• Self and Peer assessment is subjective and therefore invalid…NOT IF IT IS UNDERTAKEN WELL!

• Students cannot see the value of it…THEN IT IS PROBABLY YOUR FAULT!

• By introducing self and peer assessment, the lecturer loses control… ONLY IF YOU LET IT HAPPEN!

Tips• If you’re using group-work, assessed or otherwise, make sure the

students know why and open up for clarification and review.

• Give the group some authority as well as responsibility – always endeavour to be fair.

• Address students concerns and suggestions before implementation.

• If you are using self/peer assessment, outline the process of assessment in advance and give students the opportunity to work out why this is so important.  

• Make sure all students understand what each criterion and level of performance means.  Encourage students to invent examples of work which meets/ does not meet these criteria.

Tips

• During and after the self/peer assessment seek students’ comments about making improvements – this maximises the prospect of your students seeing and experiencing the validity of the approach.

• Encourage students to be honest.

• Make sure YOU take group-work and self-peer assessment seriously!