Peer assessment of teamwork in group projects: Evaluation of a rubric

Brett Vaughan
University of Melbourne, Australia
Jacqui Yoxall and Sandra Grace
Southern Cross University, Australia

Effective teamwork is integral to the functioning of many professions. Employers desire work-ready graduates who have developed the so-called 'soft skills' involved in teamwork. One way for students to practise and gain feedback on their team skills is through team-based assessment tasks. The TeamUP Rubric was developed to teach and assess five domains of teamwork skills through peer feedback. Initial evaluation of the five domains and use of the TeamUP with health and arts students has provided initial support for its utility as a measure of teamwork. In the current study the scale structure of each of the five domains was evaluated using Mokken scale analysis (MSA). MSA is a non-parametric item response theory approach that evaluates the internal structure of an evaluation tool. One-hundred and seventy-seven primary education students were recruited for the study. All participants were undertaking a teamwork assignment in a unit of study in their education degree at an Australian regional university. They completed the TeamUP Rubric assessment for themselves and for each of the students in their team. Each TeamUP domain met the requirements for a Mokken scale. The current study supports the validity of the scores derived from the TeamUP Rubric and further supports its use as a tool for teaching and assessing teamwork.
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Authors: Brett Vaughan is a lecturer in clinical education in the Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne, Australia and a Professional Fellow in the School of Health & Human Sciences at Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia. His interests centre on assessment and evaluation in health professions education. Email: brett.vaughan@unimelb.edu.au Web: https://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person824488#tab-publications Jacqui Yoxall is a registered psychologist and Associate Professor and Group Lead of Allied Health and Midwifery, in the School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia. Her clinical and research interests centre on assessment of human behaviour. Email: jacqui.yoxall@scu.edu.au Sandra Grace is a health services researcher and an Associate Professor in the School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University. Her research interests include integrative and complementary medicine, models of healthcare and interprofessional education and practice. Email: sandra.grace@scu.edu.au Please cite as: Vaughan, B., Yoxall, J. & Grace, S. (2019). Peer assessment of teamwork in group projects: Evaluation of a rubric. Issues in Educational Research, 29(3), 961-978. http://www.iier.org.au/iier29/vaughan.pdf