Combining individual group work assessment with expectations of collaboration and shared learning can be seen as a paradox. In this chapter we explore and problematise whether it is possible to combine cooperative learning, an approach that has great potential to contribute to joint knowledge development between students, with teacher’s curricula knowledge requirements to assess student knowledge and abilities individually. The latter can create competition between the students. We propose adding a further dimension of contemporary global perspectives on cooperative learning in education by increasing knowledge about what happens in the meeting between cooperative learning and individual group work assessment. We will address some salient possibilities and challenges regarding individual group work assessment based on theory and research, but primarily we will discuss results from our group work assessment intervention project. We will also contribute by noting some practical implications presented as recommendations for teachers who employ the assessment practice when using cooperative learning. 

The aim of this study was to investigate professional agency in the context of higher education as manifested in Swedish teacher educators perceptions regarding their working life in a digital society and to seek to obtain insights on salient factors influencing professional agency and identity. Eighteen semi-structured interviews with teacher educators working at four different universities were analysed using directed content analysis. The theoretical perspective taken is a subject-centred socio-cultural approach to professional agency. This is an approach where the social context (the socio-cultural conditions) and individuals agency (professional subjects) are mutually constitutive but analytically separate. Agency is something that is exercised, and in this study, professional agency was explored in the work context, in teaching practice and in relation to the professional identity. The results of this study not only confirm the complexity of being a professional TE in the times of digitalisation but more importantly demonstrate a paradox in the TEs perceived high agency that both enables and hinders self-development (the individual) as well as development of the working community, the organisation, and the university. The study implies that considerations and understanding of the TEs autonomy and perceived agency are significant for professional and work development.

New parents are offered parental education groups as a way to support their transition to parenthood. Interactive approaches in these groups are of importance, but studies have reported a lack of activities that support interaction. Cooperative learning is a structured method when working with groups and based on five elements essential to maximizing the cooperative potential of groups. The aim was to investigate the leadership skills of child healthcare nurses as leaders for parental education groups, their ideas about creating conditions for well-functioning groups, and what is required to achieve this. The results were analyzed and discussed using social interdependence theory as a framework and especially the five elements of cooperative learning. Further, the study used a qualitative descriptive design, and eight qualitative interviews were analyzed deductively using thematic analysis. The results showed that in their narratives the nurses display vocational knowledge and describe conditions important for their groups from a cooperative learning perspective. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the nurses had difficulty explicitly instructing parents to use their personal experiences and social skills to get groups to function effectively. Knowledge developed in the workplaces from the experience of leading groups is mostly implicit, and formal knowledge and awareness of leadership is necessary for development of the role.

Group work can provide students with valuable opportunities for cooperative learning both of knowledge and abilities related to academic factors and of collaborative skills. However, the requirement from the curriculum to assess students’ knowledge and ability individually in group work is a challenging and complex task for teachers. In addition, research on group work assessment in educational context is a neglected research area, and especially individual group work assessment. Accordingly, little theoretical knowledge or useful tools have been provided to assist teachers in this important but difficult task. A special challenge, compared to traditional assessment in education, seems to be how to discern individual knowledge from the joint work when assessing. One way for teachers to assess students during group work, and simultaneously promote their further work and learning, is to provide them with individual formative assessment, by employing feedback. Recent studies indicates that teachers’ feedback to the students also may support individual accountability, i.e., facilitates students’ ability to work more independently in group work where everyone is responsible for their part of the work but also for the group's joint assignments. Against this backdrop, the aim of this presentation is to explore and problematize in what way teachers’ formative written feedback, on students’ individual work during group work promotes or impedes collaboration and individual accountability.  

Social Interdependence Theory emphasizing positive interdependence as means for promoting collaboration as well as individual accountability for well-functioning group work, together with Shute’s (2008) guidelines for useful feedback, are utilized as overarching theoretical perspectives. Shute claims that there are several types of feedback that can be delivered and a large variability of the effects for the students. Useful feedback depends, according to Shute (2008), on motive, opportunity and means, that is, meet the student’s needs and is given when the student is prepared to use the feedback. 

The study focuses on written formative feedback as means for formative assessment. Data were obtained through 149 feedback documents from six teachers. Feedback was given during a group work assignment when students were working on the individual part of the common group task. The teachers were asked to use their own words in the written response to each student. The analysis was accomplished using an inductive thematic approach and Shute’s (2008) synthesized recommendations and guidelines to interpret and understand the teachers’ written feedback. 

The results display that the written feedback to the students includes comments on following levels: individual (“you”), group (“your group) and “not distinct” (not possible to discern which level). Furthermore, the results display that the teachers convey feedback in manageable units, focusing on the task to enhance the quality of the work or to promote collaboration and individual accountability. Thus, the paper contributes with relevant Nordic educational research by presenting theoretical knowledge on the sparsely researched area concerning written individual feedback as a means for formative assessment in connection with group work assessment.

References 

Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1), 153–189.

The aim of this study was to investigate factors that can predict collective efficacy in student work groups year 5 and 8 at compulsory school and to see if there are gender and year differences for efficacy beliefs and aspects of interdependence. A total of 283 completed questionnaires were analysed. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict collective efficacy and 2 × 2 ANOVA was used to analyse gender and year differences and interactions for following five factors: collective efficacy, self-efficacy, negative interdependence, positive interdependence and importance of good assessment and marks. The result showed that independent of gender, year and school, self-efficacy, positive and negative interdependence predicted collective efficacy in connection with group work assessment. The result also showed that there were better conditions for cooperation in year 5 compared to year 8. Additionally, it was significantly more important for girls than boys to achieve good assessment and marks.

Den här texten vänder sig till er som leder eller ska leda föräldragrupper. Med föräldragrupper menar vi de grupper som fungerar som stöd för blivande och nyblivna föräldrar, dvs. det handlar om föräldragrupper på mödrahälsovården (MHV) för blivande föräldrar som leds av barnmorskor och föräldragrupper inom barnhälso­vården (BHV) för nyblivna föräldrar som leds av barnsjuksköterskor eller distrikts­sköterskor. Texten är uppdelad på 7 kapitel. I det första kapitlet tar vi upp de stödjande aktivi­te­ter som riktas till blivande och nya föräldrar. Kapitel ett omfattar också vad övergången till vad föräldraskap innebär, både det som kan vara fysiskt och psykiskt påfrestande men också utvecklande. Vi kommer även in på grupper av nya föräldrar som kan behöva extra stöd, t.ex. ensamstående, samkönade, unga föräldrar och föräldrar som inte pratar svenska. I kapitel två flyttar vi fokus till vad det är som ska stödjas–barnens och föräldrarnas behov. Kapitel tre behandlar föräldrarnas förväntningar och tankar om föräldra­grupper–vad vill föräldrar att för­äldragrupper ska ta upp och hur vill de att de ska genomföras. I kapitel fyra riktas till ledaren och ledarrollen. Vi kommer in på olika förhållningssätt kopplat till att vara ledare, men också att skapa förutsättningar för ett lärande för deltagande föräldrar. Vi granskar hur den profession­ella rollen ser ut, men också svårigheterna med att uppfylla alla de förväntningar som finns på ledare för föräldragrupper. Femte kapitlet tar upp hur gruppen fungerar och vad som kan underlätta, men också försvåra arbetet med en grupp. Det handlar bl.a. om hur man skapar trygghet, om roller, normer och strukturer i en föräldragrupp. Vi avslutar med två kapitel som har fokus på strategier och metoder för att lättare kunna tackla potentiella problem och svårigheter, som man kan uppleva finns i föräldragrupper, och istället vända det till något positivt. I dessa två kapitel beskriver vi kooperativt lärande och kollegial handledning och ger också konkreta idéer på hur dessa två metoder eller strategier kan tillämpas på föräldra­gruppen.

Group work assessment is a challenging and complex practice for teachers. This study focuses on the challenges teachers perceive before and after participating in a group work assessment project that emphasizes individual assessment. By conducting a qualitative thematic analysis of twelve interviews with six teachers at upper secondary schools in Sweden, several challenges could be identified. The most prominent challenge concerning group work assessment is how to discern students’ individual performance within groups. This challenge has consequences for both the validity and the fairness of the assessment. Further, teachers experienced challenges with (un)fairness in group work assessment, in terms of both achieving fairness and having to deal with students’ emotions regarding perceived unfairness. The results also show how teachers perceive inadequate conditions, such as a lack of time and methods, and generate challenges in their practice, which is also related to reliability.

Group work assessment is often described by teachers as complex and challenging, with individual assessment and fair assessment emerging as dilemmas. The aim of this literature review is to explore and systematize research about group work assessment in educational settings. This is an integrated research area consisting of research combining group work and classroom assessment. A database search was conducted, inspired by the guidelines of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). The analysis and categorization evolved into a typology consisting of five themes: (a) purpose of group work assessment, (b) what is assessed in group work, (c) methods for group work assessment, (d) effects and consequences of group work assessment, and (e) quality in group work assessment. The findings reveal that research in the field of group work assessment notably focuses on social skills and group processes. Peer assessment plays a prominent role and teachers as assessors are surprising absences in the reviewed research.