Tools for peer assessment of teamwork
Find more information about implementing peer assessment of teamwork.
This article is a curated list of tools to support peer assessment (PA) of teamwork, including tools to support students with working as a team.
Group formation: Formal and informal surveys
Techniques for Sorting Groups by Interest and Characteristics (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2014, pp. 82-84):[1] 10 techniques, along with implementation descriptions, for gathering data to inform team formation.
Forming Teams in Large Classes (Sibley, & Ostafichuk, 2014, pp. 70-73):[2] a description of a survey that students fill in, indicating their background (e.g., field of study, work experience, overseas living experience); guidance is offered for (1) developing an Excel file to form heterogeneous teams and (2) finding teammates in large classrooms.
Getting to Know You (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, pp. 24-25):[3] a detailed 2-page form that students fill in to indicate their background (e.g., field of study, hobbies, sports activities) and scheduling availability.
Team contracts and team building exercises
Sample Group Learning Contract (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2014, pp. 68-69):[1] an example of a 1-page contract for students to sign, along with questions students can address for creating their own team agreement.
Team Charter (Hillier & Dunn-Jensen, 2012, pp. 722-724):[4] a 3-page form that students fill in with their names, relevant skills and a plan for how the team will work together.
Team Effectiveness Feedback (Hillier & Dunn-Jensen, 2012, pp. 725-726):[4] a 2-page form that each student fills in at each project milestone to give feedback on the effectiveness of the team. The team uses the results to improve their team performance.
Team Policies (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 26):[3] a 1-page document articulating policies that team members are expected to abide by, with guidance for addressing uncooperative behaviour from team members.
Team Expectations Agreement (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 27):[3] a 2-paragraph description of how students can develop a document to guide their teamwork; the document should include teammates’ names, as well as rules and expectations/responsibilities that the team has agreed upon.
The Egg Game (Beaman, 1998, pp. 53-54):[5] as practice for PA, students complete an ungraded team task that focuses on process and allows students to address typical teamwork concerns regarding fairness and collusion.
Guidelines for Writing a Team Contract (University of Arizona, n.d.):[6] a 5-page document for students that offers a rationale for creating a team contract, along with guidance for creating a contract: establish procedures; identify expectations; articulate consequences for failing to follow procedures and meet expectations.
Team Project Phase 1: Team Information (Pursel, n.d.a):[7] a 3-page document of directions for carrying out the assignment, along with a rubric for developing a team contract.
Lost at Sea (Pursel, n.d.b):[8] a team building activity that takes ~30 minutes of class time with ~30 students.
Notification of team problems
When things start to go astray: an email template for notifying the instructor of a team problem (Creelman, 2017).[9]
Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes on Teams (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, pp. 32-34):[3] a 3-page guide for students about how to address potentially challenging teammates’ behaviours.
Evaluation of Progress toward Effective Team Functioning (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 28):[3] a 1-page rubric that student teams can use to diagnose behaviours that may impede group functioning; can be used several times throughout the teamwork assignment.
Peer assessment forms
Group-Evaluation Form (Williams, 2016, p. 370):[10] Students fill in a 6-item self-evaluation form (p. 370), followed by a 4-question team evaluation form; the instructor uses the latter evaluation to corroborate the self-assessment data.
Sample Peer Evaluation Form (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2014, p. 110):[1] a brief form that students fill in, where they rate peers on a 3-point scale: Needs improvement; Adequate; Outstanding.
Sample Group Evaluation Form (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2014, p. 111):[1] a 6-item (quantitative and qualitative) form that students fill in to assess how well the team worked together.
Formal Team Assessment Form (Hillier & Dunn-Jensen, 2012, pp. 726-729)[4] and Formal Team Summary Form (pp. 729-730): the Formal Team Assessment Form is a Likert-scale form each team member fills in halfway through the assignment to assess the effectiveness of the team process. Using the Formal Team Summary Form, team members summarize the data and use the results to address how they can work yet more effectively going forward.
Team Member Evaluation Form (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 29):[3] a 1-page Likert scale form students can use to evaluate each team member’s contributions at mid-semester and end-of-semester.
Peer Rating of Team Members (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 30):[3] a 1-page team member evaluation form students can use to provide a 1-word rating plus commentary for each team member; can be used at mid-semester and end-of-semester.
Team Reflection and Feedback (Pursel, n.d.c.):[11] a 1-page form students fill in to assess team members according to four considerations: preparation, contribution, gatekeeping and flexibility. Students allocate a specified number of points without awarding the same number of points to all team members (modeled on an Assessment of Contributions of Group Members [Michaelsen, Knight, & Fink, 2002]).[12]
Peer assessment form (Creelman, 2017):[9]
Team assignment overviews
These resources offer overviews of teamwork assignments that illustrate when to use the different tools and what the purpose is of each tool.
Description of Documents Used in Class (Hillier & Dunn-Jensen, 2012, p. 710)[4]
Forms to Use in Working with Teams (Oakley, Felder, Brent, & Elhajj, 2004, p. 10)[3]
Teaming Roadmap Example (Pursel, n.d.d)[13]
References
[2]Sibley, J., & Ostafichuk, P. (2014). Getting started with team-based learning. Stylus.
[6]University of Arizona. (n.d.). Guidelines for writing a team contract. Retrieved January 14, 2025 from https://math.arizona.edu/~sgfoster/115b/teamcontb.doc
[7]Pursel, B. (n.d.a). Team project phase 1: Team information. Penn State University. Retrieved January 14, 2025 from http://sites.psu.edu/schreyer/wp-content/uploads/sites/213/2012/07/2_teamContract_lab.pdf
[8]Pursel, B. (n.d.b). Lost at sea. Penn State University. Retrieved January 14, 2025 from http://sites.psu.edu/schreyer/stages-of-the-teaming-process/stage-1-storming/
[9]Creelman, D. (2017). Using groups and teams: A practical approach to forming, using, and troubleshooting groups and team. Workshop at Concordia University, Montreal, QC.
[11] Pursel, B. (n.d.c). Team reflection and feedback. Penn State University. Retrieved March 30, 2021 from https://cpb-us-east-1-juc1ugur1qwqqqo4.stackpathdns.com/sites.psu.edu/dist/9/213/files/2012/07/6-team_reflection.pdf
[13]Pursel, B. (n.d.d). Teaming roadmap example. Penn State University. Retrieved January 14, 2025 from http://sites.psu.edu/schreyer/stages-of-the-teaming-process/stage-4-performing/
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