Evaluating a team project

How to evaluate when work has been carried out by a team

Not all measures are equally relevant...

Teachers often use projects to contextualize the development of skills, but when it comes to assessment, this framework sometimes proves awkward... What should be assessed? How do you go about it? And how do you go about it when the work has been carried out by a team?

These are just some of the questions that arise, and which sometimes leave us at a loss. We are going to provide some answers to these questions, drawing mainly on the work of two training institutions: the Cégep Sainte-Foy and the Pôle de soutien à l'apprentissage at the University of Geneva.

Company project, training project: what's the difference?

In a professional context, a project is oriented towards the result, the production of a deliverable. The learning that can come from working on the project is always welcome, but it's not the main objective. On the other hand, in a training context, the project is a specific setting in which to develop skills: learning is at the heart of the project, while the final production justifies the project, its organization, the creation of teams, etc. It is a strong source of motivation and can be proof of mastery of certain targeted knowledge and skills.

A project can therefore have two main objectives: the final product on the one hand, and the learning outcomes on the other. These objectives are not mutually exclusive, but it is important to remember them and to clarify the evaluator's expectations before talking about evaluation.

What can be evaluated?

In its document Évaluer dans un contexte de travail d'équipe (Evaluating in a teamwork context ), the Cégep de Sainte-Foy suggests focusing on 3 manifestations of learning (the 3Ps):

Product(final production or deliverable),
The Process(approach to achieving this production),
The Propos(the learner's reflective analysis of his or her work and learning).

This breakdown enables us to answer the two fundamental questions that structure learning: What have I done? and What have I learned?

While this division is easy to understand in a learning context, it is less obvious in a professional context. And yet...

The final product is always evaluated, and that's normal: it's the expected result.
The process is evaluated as soon as we enter a quality approach. The very principle of this approach is to trace every stage in the project's realization, in order to minimize the risk of non-quality.
Reflective analysis is desirable whenever the set objective is not achieved. If the project is a failure (even a partial one), it is essential to analyze it and draw conclusions so as not to repeat the same mistakes. The Failcon conferences offer an opportunity to share the failures experienced and the lessons learned from the reflective analysis carried out.

How do you go about it?

The Pôle de soutien à l'apprentissage at the University of Geneva suggestsusing evaluation grids to define criteria and levels of possible or expected performance. These grids can, of course, include elements relating to the 3 learning processes identified above. To help you get to grips with the principles of such an evaluation grid, the site offers a few examples and tips. These grids provide a framework for the evaluator's subjectivity, communicate requirements precisely and help to provide rich, formative feedback.

To build a grid, it may be useful to use a skills reference framework. The Valorize High Skilled Migrants project (and its French translation) summarizes 13 cross-disciplinary skills (the term skill is taken in a very broad sense, since some of them have more to do with interpersonal skills or attitudes) classified into three categories: social skills (communication, teamwork, listening, conflict management), result-oriented skills (decision-making, problem-solving, creativity and innovation, critical thinking and structured thinking) and "work-related skills" (adaptability, motivation, sense of responsibility, time management). For each, five levels of mastery are proposed, from novice to expert.

While not all of these elements need to be assessed for every project, it may be worth incorporating some of them, depending on the skills you wish to see developed in addition to the specifically disciplinary ones.

Evaluating teamwork: what's the strategy?

A project is often carried out as part of a team, and it's always difficult to know how to evaluate a student in the midst of a group. There are many possible strategies, but here are two that seem interesting and inspiring.

In its dossier on evaluation, the Gégep de Sainte-Foy proposes a complete grid for evaluating a film creation project by groups of students, specifying for each element of competence evaluated whether the evaluation is personal or collective, and which manifestation is used (3P).

On the other hand, École 42 uses an approach to evaluating group work that encourages students to be very supportive. Here's a testimonial from a swimmer (= student, in 42's pool vocabulary), from Les chroniques d'une noyée (day 6):

What's interesting is that, during the defense, the swimmer who has the most difficulty explaining the exercise or answering the questions gets the mark; and this mark becomes the group mark. This forces the weakest swimmers not to rely on the others so as not to risk penalizing the group, and the strongest swimmers to be pedagogical and explain the exercises properly so as not to be penalized themselves. That's the magic of peer-to-peer. It makes us more responsible and forces us to understand the exercises. It's ideal for teaching.

This strategy may seem brutal, but, as Laurène Castor concludes, it develops commitment, responsibility and peer-to-peer learning: all elements that are appreciated in a professional context.

In conclusion

The evaluation of a project is comparable to any assessment exercise: it must be designed and aligned with the objectives and the output required of the learners. These few thoughts can help you build your assessment strategy and grid, and encourage you to share, discuss, negotiate and even co-construct this grid with your learners. The results will be all the better!