Background/context. While student engagement in group assessment tasks is vital for the development of team-work skills, students often find the group assessment experience to be frustrating, unfair, and stressful. Often these feelings stem from the perceived low contributions or poor academic abilities of other group members.
The initiative/practice. With few studies investigating the student’s experience using self-reflection, we asked students to reflect on their own individual performance, contributions, and experiences after completing a group assignment. The purpose of this study was two-fold. Firstly, for students to evaluate their own contribution to a group assignment; and secondly, to examine the strategies they identified to promote future team-work success.
Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis. Second-year physiology students (n = 214) at a regional university in Australia, participated in this study. Following submission of the group assignment, each student submitted a 400-word reflection on their own contribution using the four-F reflective model (McCabe & Thejll-Madsen,2018). Student reflections were investigated by thematic analysis of the four reflective foci: facts, feelings, findings, and future.
Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness. Most students acknowledged positive aspects of both completing the group assessment and their contribution to the work. Communication was identified as being key to group success. Other common themes were about group dynamics and organisation of group activities. Students also noted their own skills and areas for improvement and made plans for completion of group work in the future. Future strategies included: being strategic in group formation, planning and starting work early, and ensuring communication is clear and regular. These results highlight the value of reflection for students about their own actions and contributions to groupwork, and for academics to guide students in the early stages of groupwork to promote a positive and successful groupwork experience.
References. McCabe, G. & Thejll-Madsen, T. (2018, November 5). Reflection toolkit: The four F's of active reviewing. University of Edinburgh https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/four-f