Hi Richard,
You will need a server administrator to upload users, groups etc via a
csv template. This could be an IT technician who operates the marking
server where WebPA is running.
As a tutor, under 'My Groups' you can edit group formations from the
uploaded data.
We implemented WebPA for exactly the same reasons, that many members of
student groups felt hard done by having poorly contributing members of
the group and receiving average marks. What we have learnt is that the
students should not regard WebPA as an opportunity to 'stab each other
in the back' and in reality it provides an opportunity for hard working
individuals to be recognised by their group members-so you can 'pat or
stab each other on the back'.
It seems as though you wish to explore group dynamics, behaviours or
psychological processes-using WebPA as a metric. I'm not too sure this
is exactly right for this task-but what you could do is have group
milestone hand-ins 3/4 times across the semester, so that the students
understand what contribution they are peer-assessing themselves on. You
can assess how scores change across time, and if poor performers will
always remain poor-or improve over time when the group gets to know each
other a bit better and go from 'storming' into 'performing' stage.
However, I would recommend you do not realise any information on how
each team member scored the other throughout the semester (or any
marks), we made this mistake in the last academic year and it nearly
destroyed group cohesion, creating resentment in the groups-release the
final assessed/averaged mark at the end of the project, when the group
have disbanded and they can't do detective or interrogative work to see
who shafted them. We never give them the base/report mark-just their
peer-adjusted mark.
For sensitivity analysis, you may want to conduct a comparison between
non-peer assessed grades and WebPA grades from a previous years cohort
or a separate group. Students with a history of poor contribution may up
their game a bit if they realise their peers have influence on their
marks. Equally, you may want to select groups who have low average grade
students and high average grade students mixed together-for balance.
Compiling student data into csv format and uploading is the most time
consuming activity-but we deal with 100-290 students-with 20 it should
not be a problem. We need to work on WebPA to make it more secure (with
existing single sign-on usernames and passwords) and access it in on a
campus server (rather than a dept one).
Best Regards,
Jeff
Faculty of Engineering and Design
University of Bath
On 22/07/2014 02:40, Richard Morris wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
>
> Thanks for that, I found the option as you mentioned in step 2. However, I
> was a bit confused with how to create new groups at step 3, wondering if
> it is even possible in the demo. I imagine that this function becomes
> available, allowing you to place student email addresses in once the
> program is installed? My Visual Arts class will consist of a single group
> of approximately 10 - 20 students, who share approximately 10 to 12 tasks
> amongst themselves.
>
> In the past, some students have been very proactive, and others
> discernibly inactive. Conversely, students can also get quite antagonistic
> toward any member of the group who express too much vision about how
> things should be done!
>
> It will be interesting to run WebPA for the first time and monitor how
> students attitudes to working in a group are affected over the course of a
> semester.
>
> Would it be appropriate to give the same WebPA assessment to the group on
> a periodic basis of 3 to 4 times throughout the semester, or does the
> assessment typically run just the once at the end of the group activity?
>
> Also, does your IT department finds working with WebPA time consuming, or
> does it run without too much bother?
>
> Thanks Jeff,
>
> Best Regards Richard
>
> On 21/07/2014 9:10 pm, "Jeffrey Barrie"<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Richard,
>>
>> You can do this as an advanced option when you create an assessment (in
>> step 2 to be exact) called Feedback/Justification.
>>
>> The first option allows students to see if they rated below or above
>> average for each assessment criterion.
>>
>> The second option allows students to provide text-based
>> feedback/justification on their scores.
>>
>> I don't know what version you are installing, but on my install there is
>> no character limit to the feedback, which one of my more IT-literate
>> students decided to test out by pasting an entire wikipedia article into
>> the feedback box.
>>
>> That's what happens when you run WebPA trials with engineering students!
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> Faculty of Engineering and Design
>> University of Bath
>>
>> On 21/07/2014 03:30, Richard Morris wrote:
>>> Dear WebPA community,
>>>
>>> I am a Visual Arts Lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education in
>>> Australia, and a few of my colleagues and myself are very keen to
>>> implement WebPA into some of our class units which require students to
>>> work in teams. For example, one of the classes I teach requires students
>>> work as a team to organise a group exhibition of their artwork. A grade
>>> of 20% is dedicated to such participation and WebPA looks to provide
>>> some real help with assigning a fair grade. I have asked our IT
>>> department for an estimated cost to install and run the program for a
>>> number of groups her at Avondale.
>>>
>>> One question I have is does WebPA offer any opportunity for students to
>>> provide extended written responses to questions? Having not yet
>>> installed the program, the only experience I have with WebPA, is the
>>> Demo test at http://webpaproject.lboro.ac.uk/the-system/
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> Best Regards
>>>
>>> Richard Morris
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *Dr. Richard Morris*
>>> *
>>> Senior Lecturer
>>> School of Humanities and Creative Arts
>>> Faculty of Arts and Theology*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Excellence in Christian Tertiary Education since 1897
>>> 582 Freemans Drive (PO Box 19), Cooranbong NSW 2265 Australia
>>> Telephone: 02 4980 2153 | Fax: 02 4980 2166
>>>
>>> Avondale College Ltd trading as Avondale College of Higher Education
>>> ACN: 108 186 401 | ABN: 53 108 186 401 | CRICOS: 02731D | TEQSA:
>>> PRV12015
>>> www.avondale.edu.au<http://www.avondale.edu.au/> |
>>> www.designedforlife.me<http://www.designedforlife.me/>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best Regards
>>> Richard Morris
|