Lesley Newhouse-Maiden and Terry de Jong
Edith Cowan University

Learning to work collaboratively is an important component of successful middle schooling practice (Jackson & Davis, 2000). In their preparation to become middle years teachers, students completing the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Middle Years) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) are required to engage in a range of collaborative group processes. An example of this is a small group-based project in the From Alienation to Engagement unit which necessitated students investigating and presenting their findings on the services offered to adolescents by youth-focussed agencies. As part of this project, students had to reflect upon their individual contribution to the group process. To help facilitate this, students were required to construct an assessment rubric and use this instrument to inform their reflections. This paper describes the rationale for and process used in constructing the rubric. It discusses four key themes of student learning identified from the students' reflection papers.

Introduction

The task we set our students was to work in small teams to investigate a community agency that supported the needs of, and challenges faced by, young adolescents. Our students were required to "actively accomplish complex and significant tasks", while bringing to bear their "prior knowledge, recent learning, and relevant skills" (Stowell & McDaniel, 1997, p.142), and to present their findings to their peers. An additional challenge for members of the small groups was to evaluate the effectiveness of their individual contribution to the group.

Our challenge was to develop our students into effective middle school team members and to incorporate teamwork in their middle years pedagogy. In accord with good practice we facilitated a process which created an assessment rubric for each performance task (Jackson & Davis, 2000, p. 60), where a rubric:

... outlines a set of criteria, usually on a four-or six-point scale with performance descriptions that define a range of performance on an authentic assessment task … (Stowell & McDaniel, 1997, p. 142).

We also speculated that if we "crafted a rubric" with the help of students (Jackson & Davis, 2000), they might take more ownership for their performance and gain more "enduring understandings" of group processes as teachers if:

... at every point on the rubric's scale its creators must decide what specific evidence they should see of the understandings and skills the assessment is to incorporate" (p.60)

In sum, there were two key intended outcomes associated with the inclusion of the assessment rubric in the From Alienation to Engagement unit:

1. Using a collaborative approach, students should be able to construct an authentic assessment rubric applicable to the middle years of schooling which enhances learning, and reflects the key principles of validity and fairness.

2. Using the assessment rubric as a feedback source and self-reflection tool, students should have a better understanding of the complex dynamics of working in groups, and more insight into their current and potential contribution to group work.

The process of constructing the assessment rubric

Establish clear performance targets with understanding

When students have opportunities to examine their work in the light of known criteria and performance standards they begin to shift their orientation from "What did I get? To "Now I know what I need to do to improve.

Teach strategies explicitly

We encouraged the groups to decide which dimensions of their collaborative work they wished to assess and to list what counts as quality work for the dimensions chosen (Goodrich, 1996/1997). Each of the thirteen groups of students worked on a rubric to "include enough detail to guide students' efforts to succeed" (Jackson & Davis, 2000, p. 60) as an effective contributor to the group.

Use ongoing assessments for feedback and adjustment

Rubric: Assessment of individual's contribution and impact on group project

The individual's ability to be a contributing member of the team is reflected in his/her:	Always demonstrated 9-10	Often demonstrated 7-8	Sometimes demonstrated 5-6	Not demonstrated 0-4
Participation in the group	Participates actively in group discussion Has an overwhelmingly positive attitude Prepared to accept and use others' ideas Exceptional contribution as a team member	Often participates actively in group discussion Has a positive attitude Listens to others' ideas High level of contribution as a team member	Participates in group discussion Has a generally helpful attitude Uses others' ideas Moderate level of contribution as a team member	Irregular or no contribution Participates in a few activities Rarely listens to others' ideas Struggles to contribute to the team
Personal characteristics Initiative Innovation Task focus Group Nurturance	Outstanding level of creativity Outstanding resourcefulness Offers a wide range of approaches and initiatives	Contributes creative ideas High level of resourcefulness Offers a varied range of approaches and initiatives	Moderate level of creativity Moderate level of resourcefulness Offers a limited range of approaches	Little or no creativity Little or no resourcefulness Limited or no response to problem-solving
Conflict resolution and problem solving ability	Caters for others Responds well to criticism Willing to listen to all aspects of an issue Displays understanding of complexity of team dynamics Displays adaptability and flexibility in resolving issues	Caters for others often Considers critical feedback and adapts Listens to both sides of an argument Displays awareness of group dynamics Attempts to resolve issues	Caters for others occasionally Aware of critical feedback Supports the need to resolve conflict Is aware of group processes Prefers others to resolve conflict	Little thought for others Nil or adverse reaction to criticism Avoids confrontations Displays a tendency to avoid any conflict
Task commitment and accomplishment	Completes all allocated tasks on time Values attendance at group meetings Willingly undertakes extra research and works for the final presentation	Completes most allocated tasks on time Attends most meetings Contributes towards the final presentation	Completes allocated tasks Attends some meetings Will take on allocated task for the final presentation	Will complete tasks in his/her own time-frame Tends to put a low priority on group meetings Tends to leave final presentation tasks to others

Document and celebrate progress

What did the students learn from the "rubric" process?

The rubric was a powerful means for self-reflection

• The power of collaboration
  Students' comments suggested that many of them experienced the principle of positive interdependence (Johnson & Johnson, 2003), and developed a "grounded" appreciation for the need to work collaboratively rather than competitively. Penny's comment highlights this observation: "Our group worked successfully together with all personalities suitably complementing each other. A positive interdependence was created to achieve the common goal of the presentation, with a sense of individual accountability, as each member of the group was being assessed by their peers". Simone emphasised the advantage of working collaboratively as opposed to individually: "Groups are particularly good at combining talents and providing innovative solutions to possible unfamiliar problems. In cases where there is no well-established approach a wider skill and knowledge set of the group has a distinct advantage over that of the individual".

  It was evident too that many students developed a positive attitude towards group work. Although there was no explicit reference to the rubric's role in this development, we believe that the rubric acted as an invaluable scaffolding strategy to not only engage students in identifying what they needed to do in order to achieve their goals, but also nurture the process towards enjoyment rather than chaos and unnecessary conflict. As one student pointed out:

  As a result of this project our attitude towards group work has improved. Working collaboratively has proved to be an effective method for the individual to be aware of alternate points of view and to be exposed to ideas that otherwise would not have occurred to them

• Sustaining an effective group is hard work
  The rubric engaged students in refecting on the myriad of challenges allied to sustaining an effective group. There was evidence that some of them had developed insights into the importance of attending to task and maintenance actions in the group - The Distributed Actions Theory of Leadership (Johnson & Johnson, 2003). One student had this to say: "The biggest lesson I have learned from this process is that groups are like relationships - you have to work at them", another alluded to the importance of being proactive in dealing with conflict and sustaining good working relationships: "I believe I pulled my weight, and went that bit further in researching the task I was assigned as well as making sure the group flowed smoothly and put out the spot fires before they took hold." One student indicated that conflict could be a positive factor in effective group work: "I now think that every group experience is a learning experience and perhaps some conflict or greater diversity is not a bad thing."

• Improving my group work skills
  Many students demonstrated the importance of using the rubric feedback to deepen their understanding of how they perform in groups, and how they might improve their role in contributing to successful group process and outcomes. For example, this student's honest appraisal of her weaknesses in working in groups is explicitly linked to the rubric's criteria:

  It was apparent that there was some disparity among the group regarding my sensitivity to the workings of the group. Some members identified that I had failed to display adaptability and flexibility in resolving issues, which is something I am cognisant of and is a personal goal for improvement. This accounts for the lower score in the Conflict Resolution and Problem-solving category.

  Another student referred to her strategy of focusing on certain rubric criteria and ensuring that she undertook extra tasks to meet these criteria so that the group would function effectively:

  The appraisal of the group reflected how I saw myself functioning in the group. I received high marks for my level of creativity, task commitment, and accomplishment. I felt vindicated because I took on extra tasks to bring the project together and to ensure maximum success for the group

• Making the transition to the middle years classroom
  We noted that a number of students reflected on the potential value of group work. They acknowledged the complexity of applying this pedagogy in the middle years classroom. A few students understood group work to be an ongoing learning process, and reflected some empathy for middle years students who might engage in group work. Ruth summed this up aptly: "I think ... group work (as most things in life) is a constant learning process. If we as adults find it challenging to work in groups, I can see how students would also find it hard." David suggested that conflict resolution must be taught to and practised by adolescents:

  Conflict cannot always be prevented, although in our groups case the level of conflict was very minimal, group members did not avoid it when it did occur. The resulting discussions were often the most instructive. This would have to be explained to adolescents before engaging in group work and the teacher would have to observe how the groups were operating to counsel them if any conflict which may arise is not used positively.

  One student emphasised the importance of adolescents being scaffolded by the teacher as they learn these important group process skills in a learning community.

  In schools, group work constitutes an important unit of activity but one whose support needs are only recently becoming understood (Blair, 1998). As a result, a significant amount of community building and scaffolding will be needed to ensure the success of students working in groups

  Some students highlighted the importance of adapting the process they had recently encountered and making adolescents aware of the dual purposes involved in effectively working in groups. For example, Ruth and Emma made these respective comments.

  I feel this means we must gradually introduce group work and teach students specific social skills to work in teams. The conditions and method of group work must be clear so it is equitable (individual accountability), purposeful (there is a reason why the task is being done in groups and this is clear to students) and is a positive experience (students learn to cooperate rather than compete).

  While I have a good sense of how others viewed myself, I don't think that Adolescents would have. It would ... give them a focus of one particular skill to work on, and their peers could give feedback on their improvement in this, rather than all the skills we assessed in our project. Perhaps reflection after each session would be more appropriate than at the end of the project, this would also help to keep them on task.

  Some students made the link of learning to work in groups with the demands of the workplace. For example, Oliver made reference to this: "The value of group social skills required in the workplace ... and the opportunity to learn from others and also to teach others, which will generally increase their knowledge"

  There was some acknowledgement too that working in groups can be fun, and that for adolescents, group work holds good potential:

  ...the fun generated from learning with other people is a pleasant change from the sometimes lonely grind of working solo on an assignment. I believe adolescents would enjoy this departure from traditional individual work just as much as we did.

The rubric acted as a compelling motivator

The rubric contributed to higher levels of equity and fairness

Constructing a valid and fair rubric is a complex undertaking

... the two members I gave marks to "always" outstanding creativity also marked me "always". Whereas the least creative members, by my estimation were more critical. I would have expected more criticism from the more creative members … I offered creative suggestions and invited opinion from everyone on how they felt about the suggestion. Perhaps this could have been seen as indecisive and perhaps not creative. I think that non-visual creative input to group product and process is less tangible and members may view creativity differently.

Some students raised the issue of validity. For example, Simone felt compelled to express her concern about the validity (and subsequent fairness) of her assessment of one of the group:

... to mark member E highly on 'Task Commitment and Accomplishment' because she attended every meeting, yet not reflected on the rubric is that whilst she was at meetings, her attention was focused elsewhere. (She also) contributed a number of creative ideas (scoring highly on the rubric for this category) however her timing was such that they could never be implemented and seemed to destabilise the existing status quo.

Although the quality of the rubric was considered by most students to be high, it was apparent to many that it was not the panacea of all assessment.

Conclusion

• could be used by them as a powerful means of self-reflection
• acted as a compelling motivator for them to be more effective group members
• contributed to their pursuit of higher levels of equity and fairness, where each individual's accountability to the group was monitored
• had taken time to construct and was a complex undertaking in creating an instrument that was valid and fair.

In evaluating our 'assessment for learning' strategy, how did we "measure up"? (Herman, 1997). There have been some heartening extracts from students' reflection papers on what Wiggins and McTighe (1998) conceptualised as "enduring understandings" which are those things that anchor a unit of study. Jackson and Davis (2000) took the concept further by asserting that "these are the things we want students to remember after they have forgotten the details" (p.54). David appears to have reflected this sentiment when he said,

Throughout the year each person in this course has been taught how to work effectively in groups. This has contributed to the success of completed group assignments such as this one and provides an important insight into how group work should be handled in the middle school classroom, that is students must be taught how to work in groups.

It was also our aim to "mirror best practice". We decided before the unit commenced that one of us would be responsible for evaluating the assignment, and one of us would act as a moderator. We consider this to be have been a sound strategy, especially as it enhanced "technical accuracy" (Herman, 1997, p.200). Specifically, it enabled one lecturer to: orchestrate, monitor, and feedback to students on the progressive construction of our collaborative rubric; engage in the full kaleidoscope of team processes from a variety of group member perspectives; and collate their peers' evaluation of their performance and poster. It is apparent to us that this strategy improved the quality of the process as a whole.

As teacher educators we had been prepared to position ourselves as master learners who valued improving the quality of teamwork, and had faith in our own, and our students' ability to construct, refine, and use the rubric effectively as reflective practitioners. Most importantly, for us the process had served to build our community of learners "to prepare students to embrace what Peter Ellyard (1998) terms the 21st century learning culture, and capitalise on opportunities it provides" (Leggett, Lichtenberg, Newhouse-Maiden & Harvey, 2001, p.1).

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Appendix A

Appendix B

Authors: Dr. Lesley Newhouse-Maiden and Dr. Terry de Jong School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth Western Australia Tel: 6304 5485 Fax: 6304 5850 Email: l.newhouse_maiden@ecu.edu.au, t.dejong@ecu.edu.au Please cite as: Newhouse-Maiden, L. and de Jong T. (2004). Assessment for learning: Some insights from collaboratively constructing a rubric with post graduate education students. In Seeking Educational Excellence. Proceedings of the 13th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, 9-10 February 2004. Perth: Murdoch University. http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2004/newhouse-maiden.html