ltse 2016: gsbs
TRANSCRIPT
Exploration of Group Work and Peer Assessment: A Case Study of Culturally Diverse Groups
Dr Jessica Hancock, Dr Ruth Marciniak, Thomas Peschken
GCU London
Rationale for research
Importance of international students to UK HE
Need for cultural competence in group work
Little knowledge of students working within diverse
cultural groups and language barriers (Kratzke and Bertol,
2013)
GCU London – 89% international
Literature underpinning the research Cultural influences: Can be conceptualised in terms of: • Academic cultures • Cultures of communication • Cultures of learning
As a consequence of the above, incorporating group work in a multi-cultural environment can creates both challenges and also benefits (Popov et al., 2012)
Challenges Benefits
Different communication skills
Different behavioural patterns
Intercultural competences
Sharing culturally diverse
knowledge
‘After graduation a large
number of today’s students
will work in international
groups as part of their future
professions. Therefore, the
ability to work effectively in
culturally heterogeneous
groups should be an integral
part of a student’s
competence.’
(Popov et al., 2012)
Experiences of group work - data
Qualitative analysis of reflective writing on group work
28 MSc students
Management, marketing and risk management courses
Bangladesh, China, Germany, India, Italy, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand,
Tanzania, US, Venezuela, Vietnam
Positive reflections on group work
My exposure of diversity … help me to bright my mind
My communication skills and leadership skills have improved
because I related with people of different ethnicities and
countries
There is strength in numbers and diversity
Listen[ing] to more people’s cultural stories can help me to
widen my horizon and understand more about this world
Common issues
Lack of cohesion - Kimmel & Volet, 2010
Attitude and responsibility
Conflicts - Robbins and Fredendall (2001) - homogeneous
groups tend to be happier, have less conflict
Communication
Leadership
Cultural differences
Practical – “As we all are international student, one of them had visa
problem and another one had to fly back home (family issues)”
Language – “four of my group members were using foreign language outside
of English language in discussion which left me lack of understand what they
were discussing” – also see Popov, 2010
Lack of prior experience – “I did not feel too comfortable with people of
different ethnicity”
Different approaches – “the way oriental people settling the mission were
totally unlike with the European so it triggered many kinds of disputes”
Plagiarism – “members just copy and paste the references as their works”
Possible solutions
We communicated, analyzed and solved the diversity
problem. The team members come from different countries,
we had different views on “teamwork” based on our own
cultural experiences. We shared our individual views, we find
references to analysis and support which views should be
included in the presentation. And finally solved the cultural
diversity problem.
Other data and outcomes
Questionnaire after group work
Peer assessment tool
Modifications to current tool
Better represent student issues and concerns
Survey findings
Questionnaire
Benefits and challenges of team work,
Relevance of peer assessment criteria
Concerns of group work identified from reflective student work
Masters level module with 21 students, 14 completed
responses
Descriptive statistics only at this point due to low volume of data
Survey findings – Benefits and Challenges of team work and cultural diversity
Benefits Benefits of working
in a team
The cultural diversity had a
positive impact on/
contributed to the benefits
(Time) Management skills 9% 4.7 Awareness of other cultures/ ways of working (together) 29% 4.1
Communication skills 18% 4.7
Different ideas 26% 4.4
Enjoyable 3% 5.0
Networking/ making friends/ relationships 6% 5.0
Teamwork/ learning from others 9% 4.7
• Cultural diversity in a group is linked with all benefits identified
Survey findings – Benefits and Challenges of team work and cultural diversity
Challenges Challenges of
working in a team
The cultural diversity had a
negative impact on/ contributed
to the challenges
Work ethic/ attitude towards task 26% 4.0
Too many ideas/ struggle to agree 22% 4.0
Communication issues 19% 4.6
Different ways of working/ thinking 33% 4.1
• Benefits roughly in line with Popov et al 2012
• Challenges go beyond/ more specific than Popov et al 2012
• Generally more benefits (34) were identified than challenges (27)
• Association with cultural diversity: • Cultural diversity perceived to have both a positive and negative impact on team work
• Positive impact on benefits stronger than negative impact on challenges
Survey findings – Peer Assessment Criteria Relevance (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree)
0
2
4
6
8
10
5 4 3 2 1
Attendance Ideas
Research Group Process
Supporting others Practical contribution
• School of Service Management/ University of Brighton 15+ years ago
• HEA as best practice example
• All criteria deemed relevant:
• Regular attendance at group meetings
• Contribution of ideas for the task
• Research, analysing & preparing material for the task
• Contribution to the co-operative group process
• Supporting & encouraging group members
• Practical contribution to end product e.g. writing presenting making materials etc.
Survey findings – Peer Assessment
Ranking (1 = top, 6 = bottom) Weighting (Given in %)
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
0
5
10
15
20
25
- Both ranking and weighting identify the same 3 component as being most important to students
- Interestingly the “ideas” part relates to one of the perceived benefits and translates as something
that is valued
Survey findings – Peer Assessment
Criteria Relevance (5 strongly
agree, 1 strongly disagree
Ranking (1
top, 6 bottom)
Weighting
Regular attendance at group meetings
4.5 2.2 18%
Contribution of ideas for the task 4.3 2.5 21%
Research, analysing & preparing material for the task
4.6 2.3 23%
Contribution to the co-operative group process
4.5 2.9 14%
Supporting & encouraging group members
4.4 4.7 12%
Practical contribution to end product e.g. writing presenting making materials etc.
4.4 4.6 13%
Survey findings – Reflective Concerns (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree)
0
2
4
6
8
10
5 4 3 2 1
Plagiarism Time together
Leadership Deadlines
Language Conflict
Attitude to task Communication
- General support/ agreement with all concerns identified in student reflective
- Each concern with 64%+ support as relevant
- The only concern that was relatively less important was “time together”
Survey Findings – Reflective Concerns (Opposing choice pairs)
Pla
gia
rism
Tim
e t
ogeth
er
Leaders
hip
Deadlines
Language
Confl
ict
Att
itude t
o T
ask
Com
munic
ati
on
Preference A 36% 29% 36% 71% 57% 43% 57% 43%
Indifferent 29% 29% 43% 14% 36% 43% 29% 21%
Preference B 36% 43% 21% 14% 7% 14% 14% 36%
- No concern with only one interpretation
- Majority of choice pairs had a dominant interpretation (Red)
- Two choice pairs with indifferent option at least as big if not bigger than the dominant
preference (Purple)
- Two choice pairs peaked on both sides i.e. opposing views (Green)
Outcomes
• Intention/ purpose of Peer Assessment Tool Revision • Measure QAA Benchmark:
”effective performance within team environments and the ability to recognise and utilise individuals' contributions in group processes and to negotiate and persuade or influence others; team selection, delegation, development and management”
• Better represent student concerns
• Group Self-Management Tool to tackle challenges and underpin/ support benefits
• Challenges for Peer Assessment Revision • Not to overcomplicate the tool
• Subjectivity/ objectivity of criteria
• Key revisions to be considered in collaboration with students • Adjust weighting either by 1) introducing a
fixed weightings column, 2) allow students to assign weightings or 3) enhance the criteria to balance the weighting
• Enhance criteria to address student concerns/ challenges and to capture/ encourage benefits
• Extended Tool Kit/ training to share best practice for addressing challenges in groups but equally how to get the most benefits out of group work and diversity
Next steps
Further data collection – interviews
Training for colleagues – share tool
Online videos for students