Innovative Approaches To Teaching And Assessing Teamwork In Higher Education

This guide will help instructors better understand the skills that underlie effective teamwork, offer strategies for structuring group projects, and provide advice on imparting the knowledge and support that students need to develop highly functional, advanced teamwork skills. Even instructors with a great deal of experience in structuring collaborative learning projects may recognize the gap that exists between their current efforts in providing students with teamwork experiences and effectively training students’ teamwork skills. By drawing on literature from the fields of organizational teamwork and teamwork pedagogy in higher education, the authors identify the processes associated with effective teamwork, relate these processes to teamwork in student teams, and distill and organize strategies for developing students’ teamwork knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Featuring evidence-informed tools, case studies, and best practices, this highly practical text provides everything higher education instructors need to target and advance their students’ teamwork competencies while maximizing the learning benefits of peer collaboration.

The book is divided into five parts representing five key issues discussed at the workshop, with the call for contributions to this book framed around the following topic areas: 1. Organisation - team size and composition, supporting with sessions such as lectures and tutorials, sourcing projects, ways in which tutors monitor progress and provide guidance. 2. Management – strategies and tools for teams to use for project management, and ways in which students manage their project progress. 3. Assessment - issues of individual participation, how to assess learning, skills and personal development. Assessment of process and/or product, and fairness in group assessing. 4. Development of skills - using team projects to provide opportunities, getting students to recognise them, and reflection on learning and self development. 5. Differences from the workplace – preparing students for global team working.

Many businesses and organizations struggle with implementing effective teamwork, leading to confusion, stress, and subpar results. In higher education, students often graduate without the necessary teamwork skills, leaving them unprepared for the demands of the modern workplace. Empowering Teams in Higher Education: Strategies for Success addresses these challenges head-on, offering a practical guide for improving teamwork and creating a collaborative learning environment. By providing insights, strategies, and real-world examples, this book equips students and educators alike with the tools they need to succeed. Employers increasingly value teamwork and collaboration, and do not have the resources to train recent graduates who need these essential skills. This book fills the gap between higher education and the workforce by providing a roadmap for transforming students' educational experiences. With a focus on practical strategies and real-world applications, this book effectively prepares students to excel in team-based environments. Educators will also benefit from this book, gaining valuable insights into effective team dynamics and how to nurture innovation in their classrooms.

Assists academic staff to develop their effectiveness as teachers and improve their students' learning by giving practical guidelines and suggestions for teaching and a series of activities.

The contributions to this volume aim to stimulate discussion about the role of assessment in the learning experiences of students in music and other creative and performing arts settings. The articles offer insights on how assessment can be employed in the learning setting to enhance outcomes for students both during their studies at higher education institutions and after graduation. An international group of leading researchers offers an exciting array of papers that focus on the practice of assessment in music, particularly in higher education settings. Contributions reflect on self-, peer- and alternative assessment practices in this environment. There is a particular emphasis on the alignment between assessment, curriculum structure and pedagogy.

Throughout higher education assessment is changing, driven by increased class size, changing curricula and the need to support students better. At the same time assessment regulations and external quality assurance demands are constraining assessment options, driven by worries about standards, reliability and plagiarism. Innovative Assessment in Higher Education explores the difficulty of changing assessment in sometimes unhelpful contexts. Topics discussed include: problems with traditional assessment methods rationales behind different kinds of innovation in assessment complex assessment contexts in which teachers attempt to innovate innovation in assessment within a range of academic settings theoretical and empirical support for innovations within higher education. More than a ‘how to do it’ manual, this book offers a unique mix of useful pragmatism and scholarship. A vital resource for higher education teachers and their educational advisors, it provides a fundamental analysis of the role and purpose of assessment and how change can be managed without compromising standards.

This book highlights case studies and innovative teaching methods used by academics across the globe. It talks about how teaching staff should stimulate students’ active engagement in their own learning processes, and discusses the approach of implementing a project-based learning activity that integrates learning in an authentic manner.

Project approaches in engineering education are a relatively recent phenomenon in Portugal, Spain and Latin-America. Teachers, educational researchers and managers in engineering education are discovering the added value of team work, solving interdisciplinary open-ended problems in a meaningful learning environment that is similar to the professional context of future engineers. This book seeks to present a wide range of experiences of project approaches to engineering education, varying from mature to starting. It discusses different aspects of project approaches like project management, teacher training, assessment and institutional support. It also describes experiences taking place in a number of countries – Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Australia – in order to provide an overview of project approaches in different cultural backgrounds. It aims to encourage those who are considering project approaches in their own engineering education context, taking into account the advantages of training future engineers through project work, while being aware of the challenges that a shift from traditional education to a project may bring.