Assessing Student Team Effectiveness

该项目正在开发一种工具和一种专门设计的程序，使学生能够使用基于网络的同行评估过程来评估他们的个人和团队效率。这一过程旨在自动纠正评分者的偏见(例如，光环、宽大、严重)。有了这个工具，工程学教师可以确定：(1)对于参与的学生来说，团队体验到底有多成功；(2)团队训练方法对团队体验的影响；(3)什么团队形成策略最能促进课程学习目标；以及(4)什么类型的干预策略将改善团队的整体功能。有效团队的指标是以其他团队成员提供的对每个团队成员的同行评价为基础的。小插曲被用来调查学生对团队成员的评分的准确性，并在实际的同行评分中纠正评分者的偏见，而不是专家的判断。学生对功能的认知正在以自我报告工具的形式进行操作，要求学生表明他们的团队在一系列领域的合作程度，包括相互依赖、学习、能力和目标设定。在评估他们的项目时，调查人员比较了使用过该仪器的学生和没有使用该仪器的早期学生的态度。他们还用教练对团队有效性的观察和学生的课程成绩来交叉验证有效性预测。此外，评估审查小组每半年举行一次会议，监测进展情况并查明问题。这一方法正在另外三家机构进行测试。研究人员计划在工程教育和普通高等教育研究场所展示和发表他们的工作。

The project is developing both an instrument and a procedure that are specifically designed to allow students to assess their individual and team effectiveness using a web-based peer evaluation process. The process is being designed to correct for rater-bias (e.g., halo, leniency, severity) automatically. With this instrument, engineering faculty can determine: (1) how successful a teaming experience actually is for participating students, (2) the impact of team training methods on the teaming experience, (3) what team formation strategies best promote course learning objectives, and (4) the types of intervention strategies that will improve overall team functionality. Indicators of effective teams are being based on peer evaluations for each team member, as provided by other team members. Vignettes are being used to investigate the accuracy of students' ratings of team members, and to correct for rater bias, as compared to expert judgments, in actual peer ratings. Students' perceptions of functionality are being operationalized in terms of a self-report instrument requiring students to indicate the degree their team is working together across a range of domains, including interdependency, learning, potency, and goal-setting. In evaluating their project, the investigators are comparing the attitudes of students who have used the instrument to those of earlier students who did not. They also are cross-validating effectiveness prediction with an instructor's observations of team effectiveness and with the students' course grades. In addition an Assessment Review Panel meets semi-annually to monitor progress and identify problems. The approach is being tested at three other institutions. The investigators plan to present and publish their work in both engineering education and general higher education research venues.