The Rationale for Using Group Work - Essay Example

Group work Task: Group work Educators and employ a number of assessment tools in universities and colleges including group work. Group projects allocated to students call for utmost accountability and responsibility of members, who work in unison. The allocated academic assignments, or work, to a given number of students together needs their “coordination and cooperation” to accomplish the project or assignment (Akhtar, Perveen, Kiran & Satti, 2012). Assessment is on the final group project from members’ participation. This essay examines the appropriateness of group work as an assessment tool. Students find group work a challenging task. Instructors, however, use the assessment tool because of its rationale and benefits. It, however, receives a number of challenges from its use, which can be subject to control and improvement. The rationale for using group work emanates from the needs that meet the apparent job market demands. The use of group work by instructors aims at nurturing students to cope with the apparent demands in employment, which calls for collectivity in the management of common tasks. Teamwork receives a plausible appreciation in management for its effectiveness in deducing solutions to problems. When problems are solved by, consultations involving teamwork are holistic and considerate of a number of parties affected. Group work enhances the integration of interaction among students. Interaction is of absolute importance in increasing productivity of human resource. When students work and cooperate, they are able to learn more than their ability to learn on an individual basis (Pineda, Barger & Leerner, 2011). According to Frey, Fisher & Everlove (2009), “each group demonstrates their learning”. Cooperation, a feature nurtured through working in groups, is indispensable for students in preparation of students to prepare to work with colleagues in the cooperate world. Corporation with other parties, apart from colleagues, for example, is also beneficial for students at work. In some situations, instructors handle considerably large classes or tutorial groups in universities and colleges. Instructors may decide to employ other tools of evaluation, different from examinations. Group projects, for example, become an effective evaluation tool. They may serve to supplement the use of examinations as an evaluation tool. It lowers the workload for instructors by reducing the number of projects evaluated. Instructors are also able to hold meetings with groups with utmost ease than they would be by individual students. They, therefore, can have close contact with students. The use of group work, as a tool of evaluation, by instructors, has several advantages. Completing group projects renders the evaluation process time effective, in case of many individuals. Many students are able to share, among themselves, available resources. Students help each other complete assignments and those with weaknesses in some areas receive assistance from their colleagues. There is a high probability those students who have weaknesses in given academic areas can improve in their work. While evaluating students using group work, some members of the group can show openness with the instructor. This renders group work an effective means of assessment since “some group members cannot openly interact with instructors on an individual basis” (Roberts & McInnerney, 2007). In the view of Pfaff and Huddleston, working in teams grant students the opportunity to work with their fellows, who have divergent learning styles (Pfaff & Huddleston, 2003). The various students also have diverse writing styles as well as methods of executing their work. Students, therefore, learn diverse skills from other group members and enhance their level of understanding of concepts. The ultimate result assessed by the instructor is in-depth, given the opportunity that students have to nurture different learning and writing skills, for example. The quality of the final product receives an elevation because of the different styles used in the completion of the assessed group projects. Group work is a source of motivation to a number of students who learn to nurture desirable academic personalities as the persistence to undertake challenging tasks. The use of group work as a means of assessment by instructors, therefore, has a number of advantages. Despite the various advantages of using group work as an assessment tool by instructors, it poses a number of challenges, as well. Such problems emanating from the use of group work are diverse. Group work, most often, involves division of the group project among the members. Every member bears the responsibility to perform the portion allocated to him or her. This creates a challenge related to the effectiveness of the use of group projects to assess all the members. In many situations, group members master their portion of the project and mostly have little comprehension of the portion allocated to their colleagues. It tends to limit students to learn the relevant parts of the group project and thus lack of an inclusive comprehension of the entire project. The use of group work in assessing students tends to alienate independent learning. The need to have independent learning in students is inevitable to ensure proper mastery of the course content. The lack of independent learning, for example, may occur in cases where there are free riders. It is notable that a good portion of students lack proper skills to coordinate and undertake activities related to accomplishing group projects. Many instructors use teamwork in assessment as a contemporary trend without equipping students with such necessary skills. The lack of these skills reduces the performance of students in group projects in comparison to independent projects. These may include, for example, occasions when “they do not share first language” (Melles, 2004). In such cases where there is the lack of expertise to complete group projects among students, the assessed work does not reflect their academic abilities and performance levels. The problems associated with group work as an assessment tool by instructors, however, are perfectly solvable. Challenges that occur because of the lack of coordination among team members have remedies that would improve the level of responsibility by individuals and accountability. Selecting the right blend of team members, for instance, can improve the accountability of the members. Instructors can also assign roles to group members to avoid the effect of members disowning duties allocated to them by team leaders. Students who do not show full responsibility in their duties and tend to free ride should receive personal counseling from the instructor. Appeal to the students to embrace changes in their behavior, by the instructor, can help improve their accountability and responsibility in activities in accomplishing the group project. “Instructors should take diverse factors into consideration skills and capabilities while grouping students” (Roberts & McInnerney, 2007). This creates diversity and the ability of the group members, for example. These enable them to withstand a number of challenging projects. Instructors also need to equip college and university students with essential skills of group members’ coordination and accomplishment of group projects. Effects of lack of motivation of students in participating in group projects are addressable by encouraging them on the importance of group work as an assessment tool. Instructors, besides assessing the entire group, should do so for individual students. This would ensure that students have a vivid comprehension of the course work, instead of their allocated potions only. In conclusion, the use of group work as an assessment tool is apparently on the increase in colleges and universities. Its benefits to instructors include the ease of assessing the entire group, contrary to the individuals. It helps nurture desirable skills as those of interaction that help students in their later life of employment. It also enhances students’ social learning skills, self-esteem and motivation. It promotes positive relationship among students, besides improving their experience in learning as well satisfaction. There are a number of challenges in surrounding its use as an assessment tool. These include the free rider characters of certain students. In many occasions, however, such challenges are subject to remedies as allocation of duties by instructors, instead of the student leader. Group work remains an effective assessment tool for use by instructors in colleges and universities. References Akhtar, K., Perveen, Q., Kiran, S., & Satti, A., (2012). A Study of Stufdent’s Attitudes towards Cooperative Learning. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(11): 141-147. Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Everlove, S. (2009). Productive Group Work: How to Engage Students, Build Teamwork, and Promote Understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Melles, G. (2004). Understanding the Role of Language/ Culture in Group Work through Qualitative Interviewing. The Qualitative Report, 9(2): 216-240. Pfaff, E., & Huddleston, P. (2003). Does It Matter If I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student Attitudes toward Teamwork. Journal of Marketing Education, 25(1): 37-45. Pineda, R., Barger, B., & Leerner, L. (2011). Exploring Differences in Student Perceptions of Teamwork: The case of U.S and Lithuanian Students. Journal of International Business and Cultural Stdies, 2(4): 1-9. Roberts, T. & McInnerney, J. (2007). Seven problems of Online Group Learning (and Their Solutions). Educational Technology & Society, 10 (4): 257-268. Read More