Group-Work: Does It Have to Be That Bad?

Publication Date
2013-11-01
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Before publication
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Used by permission: Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) and the authors

Abstract

Many accreditation bodies and universities require the graduate attribute of “an ability to work in teams” or to “effectively collaborate”. Students invariably dislike working in groups maintaining that “malingerers ride on the back” of those students who work hard and contribute effectively to the outcomes of the group or team. This is the context in which an ALTC/OLT project was established, the project is to consider ways of enhancing group-work in Architecture and design related disciplines. The project has identified the issues associated with group-work, from the perspective of student and lecturer, and has begun to develop strategies to overcome the issues. This paper reports on an assessment intervention made in a subject that involved significant levels of group-work, the initiative gained interesting responses from the students involved. Interestingly the class was multi-disciplinary and with a large percentage of international students. The students articulated during the focus group at the end of the experience were positive about the the experience of having to collaborate. This paper reports on the assessment initiative as well as providing some insights into the students’ experiences of working in groups.

Description
Keywords
assessment, teamwork
Citation

Williams T., Henry, L., Tucker, R., & Abassi, N. (2013). Group-work: Does it have to be that bad? Paper presented at the 38th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.

International Standard Serial Number
International Standard Book Number
9780908689873
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