Group Assessment

Group Assignment Marking

Finbarr Sheehy

Current and Future Skills in the Science Industry

• There are more and more changes in the workplace

taking us out of our comfort zones.

• Global connectivity, smart machines, new media

and big data

• We need a greater ability to adapt to our environment.

• Pure academic technical skills are not sufficient for the

future.

Education

cannot stop at

‘EmploymEnt’

‘Obvious’ Technical Skills for the Industry

• Science

• Manufacturing

• Quality

• Regulations

• Documentation

• Maintenance

• Calibration

• Business Improvement

• HR / Finance / Training

• SAP / Planning / MRP

• Validation

• Project Management

• Engineering

• Facilities / Utilities

• Science

• Debugging

• Software Development

• Software Systems

• Environmental Skills

• Safety

• Technology Transfer

• Sales

New Skills - Ability to Make Sense of our Environment

•The ability to make sense of what is

expressed / presented - connect things

together to create new ideas.

•Translate vast amounts of data into

meaningful analysis

•Discriminate and filter information for

importance using different tools, techniques

and technologies

New Skills - Ability to Work with Others in Different Ways

•Operate in different cultural settings

•Work productively, drive engagement, and

achieve results as part of a virtual team

•Work in multiple roles and demonstrate

multiple competencies

•Apply creative thinking to solve problems

• Apply a ‘Get things done’ attitude and

solve complex problems.

New Skills - Ability to Work Across Many Disciplines

•Proficient at thinking and coming up with

solutions and responses beyond what we

learned in the past - memorised or rule-based

•Understand concepts and have knowledge

across multiple disciplines

•Soft Skills, Coaching, Facilitation

•Data Analysis, Process Improvement, Lean Sigma

•Originally Job Roles – now Competencies across many job

roles

Skills needed for the future knowledge worker

• Sensemaking

• Social Intelligence

• Novel Adaptive Thinking

• Cross Cultural Competency

• Computational Thinking

• New Media Literacy

• Work across Disciplines

• Design Mindset

• Manage Workload

• Virtual Collaboration

• Science

• Manufacturing

• Quality

• Regulations

• Documentation

• Maintenance

• Calibration

• Business Improvement

• HR / Finance / Training

• SAP / Planning / MRP

• Validation

• Project Management

• Engineering

• Facilities / Utilities

• Science

• Forensics

• Debugging

• Software Development

• Software Systems

• Environmental Skills

• Safety

• Technology Transfer

• Sales

Current Scientific / Academic Skills Future Proofing Skills

How do you assess these new skills?

• We obviously need some mechanism to move away from the following

• Solely working on their own

• Assessing Individual Knowledge

• Assessing purely Technical / Analytical skills

• Assessing skills within a single/limited discipline

• We need a mechanism to encourage and assess the following

• Contribution/Participation

• Individual Accountability and Responsibility

• Sense Making Skills

• Problem Solving Skills

• Presentation Skills

• Inter cultural Skills

Version 1 – Everyone Gets the Same Grade

• E.g. Group of Three Students

• Each student gets the same grade

based on the overall submission of the

group assignment

• Advantages

• Grade reflects overall result

• Easy to correct

• Disadvantages

• Does not reflect individual contribution

• Does not reflect interaction

• Does not reflect ability to resolve interaction

issues

Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

Grade

Version 2 – Assess Overall & Individual Contribution


• Grade is divided into two sections

• Portion for overall Submission – Same for everyone

• Portion for Individual Contribution – Different for each

student – assessed by Lecturer

• Advantages


• Grade reflects individual contribution

• Disadvantages

• Does not reflect interaction

• Does not reflect ability to resolve interaction

issues


Grade

Individual Result

Overall Result

Version 3 – Assess Overall, Individual and Peer

Contribution


• Grade is divided into three sections

• Portion for overall Submission – Same for everyone

• Portion for Individual Contribution – Different for each

student – assessed by Lecturer

• Portion for Peer Review – Different for each student –

assessed by Peers in the Group

• Advantages


• Grade reflects individual contribution

• Grade reflects the contribution of each

participant in the group

• Disadvantages

• More complex to measure – But worth it!


Grade

Peer Review

Individual Result

Overall Result

Example

• Group of Three Students

• Grade Distribution – 100% Group Assignment

• 40% Overall Final Submission

• 30% Individual Contribution based on agreed

expectations

• 30% Peer Review of Group Members

• The group identified and documents roles,

responsibilities, actions, deadlines amongst

themselves.

• All Three Students get the same percentage for

the overall result- e.g. awarded 30% (out of 40%)

• Student 1 – Good Individual Section & Good

Participation

• Student 2 – Poor Individual Section & Poor

Participation

• Student 1 – Excellent Individual Section &

Excellent Participation


Peer Review 20 10 25

Individual Result 20 10 25

Overall Result 30 30 30

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Indiv

idu

al G

rad

e

Grade

Sure, We were all Great!


• Grade Distribution


• 30% Individual Contribution based on

agreed expectations



responsibilities, actions, deadlines

amongst themselves.

• All Three Students get the same

percentage for the overall result- e.g.

awarded 20% (out of 40%)

• Student 1 – Poor Individual Section &

Strong Peer Review


Strong Peer Review


Strong Peer Review





0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Indiv

idu

al G

rad

e

Grade

There is something wrong here!

But I contributed More!


• Grade Distribution


• 30% Individual Contribution based on

agreed expectations



responsibilities, actions, deadlines

amongst themselves.

• All Three Students get the same

percentage for the overall result- e.g.

awarded 30% (out of 40%)

• Student 1 – Good Individual Section &

Strong Peer Review


Poor Peer Review


Strong Peer Review





0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Indiv

idu

al G

rad

e

Grade

There may be grounds to review

How to be Successful

• The best Individual result is obtained by striving for the best Group result

• Focus on striving for the success as a group rather than trying to highlight issues with the

other group members

• Success is achieved

• Agree the overall strategy to answer the assignment

• Agree the sections/actions that are required to research, assess, analyse, present and collate the assessment

• Agree which individuals will do these actions

• Document these actions

• Work as a team / Collaborate

• Be open and honest – It is ok to challenge / agree / disagree

• Use technology / skype / dropbox / tools to share information

Group Assessment – Agreed Roles

Group Members: Joe Bloggs, Mary Grimes, Michael Wilson

Joe Bloggs

Agreed Actions

• Complete primary research on

…….

• Develop research questionnaire…

• Post and collect Research

questionnaire….

• Participate in weekly meeting

Mary Grimes

Agreed Actions

• Complete data analysis on

primary research…

• Develop findings and

assumption….

• Collate bibliography / reference

listing……


Michael Wilson

Agreed Actions

• Develop visualisations for

data……

• Collate chapters and maintain

current revision of assignment


•

Documents

Group Assessment