Boost Group Collaboration with the Teamwork Assessment

When students engage in collaborative work in my class, I always have them fill out a the Teamwork Assessment to provide feedback on how everyone in their group collaborated during a unit or project. In the past, students receive a simple rubric, score each other and themselves, and provide justification for their scores. My primary purpose for giving this assessment was to inform the collaboration score I'd input for each student at the end of a project. I always made it known to students that they are not determining each other's grades, but that I use these as tools to make my own determinations.

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Then one time, at the end of a unit, a group presented their work to the class and I praised the entire group. As soon as I did this, a student in that group named Emily turned beet red and stormed to her desk and began to cry.

What did I say?

When I pulled Emily aside and asked her what was wrong, she said to me, “You just clapped for my whole group, but I did all of the work!”

I responded, “I'm so sorry, I didn't know that. It looked like everyone was working the whole time.” She proceeded to tell me how they were all faking it and taking advantage of her throughout the whole project.

After digging a little deeper, I realized I had been hoodwinked.

This was the moment where I learned that I cannot wait until the end of a collaborative project to find out if students were working effectively or not. From then on, I began to use the Teamwork Assessment, a tool for students to assess themselves and their teammates' contribution to collaborative work. Without notice, I'd give students the assessment to fill out. At first, many students were reluctant to give honest feedback as they were afraid of angering or alienating group mates. However, they quickly learned the utility of this assessment. I wasn't just asking for their feedback to determine a grade anymore. Instead, I was asking for their input. Their ownership of this assessment now directly benefited them. Students like Emily no longer felt like they would be walked all over during a project.

When students own the assessment process, they have a greater sense of buy-in. There’s a sense of control, or personal agency, in their learning. Students grow more aware of their progress as they navigate their learning. They’re more aware of what they know and what they need to know. If you recall the chapter on engagement, the key areas are commitment and attention. Self-assessment helps students stay committed through buy-in and learner agency. Meanwhile, they grow more aware of their progress, which can help improve their focus and attention.