Abstract

Assessments that require students to work in a group are incorporated at different levels of tertiary education. The overarching purpose of group work is to develop collaborative ability which is a highly sought-after skill by employers around the world. Working in a group doesn’t always ensure that all members cooperate and collaborate effectively towards achieving a shared goal. Consequently, both the students and teachers could encounter challenges in progressing with the group work and therefore, receive negative experience. In the literature, several best practices have been identified as basic elements for cooperative learning that can mitigate some of the key challenges. This paper proposes Groupwork Assessment Development (GAD), a framework for designing and conducting group assessments that incorporates some of these best practices. The framework embeds strategies to guide teachers in designing the assessment and to prepare the students in undertaking the group work. At the core, the GAD framework emphasises on the constructive coherence between the three key areas of the curriculum: learning outcomes, assessments and learning activities. It provides a roadmap for a teacher in selecting a group task, designing the assessment with a set of learning activities and facilitating the group assessment with continuous monitoring and evaluation. The framework guides students through three distinct phases: Planning, Execution and Quality Assurance towards achieving the intended learning outcomes for the assessment. The authors have conducted an exploratory study to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the GAD framework in developing a group assessment. The study shows that GAD framework provides both cooperative and collaborative learning environment for students which results in a positive group work experience. The study also revealed that overall satisfaction of the teachers facilitating the group work has improved with the adaption of the GAD framework.

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