An Evaluation Tool for Collaborative Learning Based on Communication
Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Towards Sustainable and Scalable Educational Innovations Informed by the Learning Sciences: Sharing Good Practices of Research, Experimentation and Innovation
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The value of project-based, collaborative learning activities has been well established in the literature. For both students and faculty, fair and meaningful evaluation of the collaborative assignment is an overarching concern. Since the group-interaction elements of this type of assignment are of great interest - especially in terms of measuring such constructs as group productivity, division of labor, and teamwork skills and detecting instances of social loafing - evaluation cannot be based solely on the instructor's assessment of the final product produced by the team. A blending of instructor, self, and peer assessment is indicated but the problems associated with gathering, weighing, and analyzing the data from such a multi-faceted evaluation are quite daunting. There is, however, little consensus on what data is available and how it can be effectively processed to facilitate evaluation of the teamwork in collaborative learning activities conducted in an ALN. The goal of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument for conducting self and peer evaluations of the teamwork aspect of a project-based, collaborative learning assignment.