Assessment of Group Projects Beyond Cooperative Group Effort
Professor Ajay K. Banga Ph.D.pages: 115 - 123
- DOI: 10.1300/J060v11n02_06
- Version of record first published: 04Apr2005
Abstract:
This work investigated whether learning from group projects can be enhanced by innovative methods to get students involved in individual efforts to understand the group reports of the whole class beyond the typical dead-end submission of group reports to the instructor. The groups first worked together and submitted a group report. All group reports were then placed on the course Web site. Individual students, working alone, then submitted a report providing a critique of reports from other groups. An anonymous assessment survey found that 66% of the students felt that this combination of group and individual effort was more effective than group work alone for an in-depth understanding of the assigned task. A more direct measure of in-depth understanding following group and individual efforts using two quizzes supports this observation.