MAILING LISTS

In my first TBL class teammates penalized a classmate more than I
anticipated for not contributing to the team effort. I reflected that I
needed to decide what I was comfortable with for the amount of effect
that peer evaluation could cause. After that I decided to give students
a range of points to choose from to assign peer scores.

I liked the results better after making this change the next semester.
Peer evaluation stayed important but not higher risk than I intended.
These are the instructions I used:

Evaluate the contributions of each person in your group except yourself,
by distributing 100 points among them. Use between 15 and 35 points per
person as long as all four scores add to 100. Include comments for each
person.

Qualities that help team performance include
*       preparation for class
*       productive contributions to team discussion and work
*       respect for teammates and encouragement for them to contribute
their ideas
*       flexibility when disagreements occur so that they are
constructive, not destructive, to the team (I expect you to discover
disagreements as you work together; they are part of starting from
different perspectives and can be fruitful for learning).


Kathy Ross

Kathy Ross, Ph.D.
Instructional Technologist
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Indiana University Kokomo
2300 South Washington
PO Box 9003
Kokomo, IN 46904-9003
765-455-9392
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Date:    Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:30:50 -0500
From:    "Fried, Vance" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Peer Evaluations

Sandy,
I get a few complaints, but do it any way.  I've never seen a group of
five or more (whether in TBL or real world) where everybody contributed
equally. Sometimes they all may put in the same amount of work, but even
in the most balanced of groups somebody is always a little better).

I do set it up where it is clear that you get a reasonable peer grade (7
or above) if you come regularly to class and are prepared, even if other
group members are much better.  I also make it clear that a 9 isn't
going to lower anybody's score by a letter grade.

Disclaimer:  I've never taught in an Asian culture.

Vance Fried
Management
Oklahoma State University