Evaluating Teamwork

 One of the main goals of post-secondary education is to prepare students for their chosen career path and equip them with the requisite practical skills necessary for occupational success. To emphasize this point, a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) found that 71% of employers indicated the importance of ‘teamwork skills and the ability to collaborate with others in diverse group settings’­ (Hart Research Associates. 2010).""The goal of the study was to develop a sustainable tool for assessing individual teamwork skills, with the intention of refining and measuring these skills over time. Queen’s researchers began with a teamwork survey tool that had been adapted from the AAC&U (www.aacu.org/) Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) teamwork rubric.         

TeamUp (Hastie et al., 2014), was tested in a second year undergraduate course, refined based on qualitative and quantitative analysis, and redeveloped into Team-Q (see reverse). The tool has conceptual similarity to other measures of teamwork (see table below) suggesting validity of the measure. Psychometric properties from the peer, self, and external evaluations of the Team-Q show high internal consistency, and acceptable inter-rated reliability. " "

Team-Q is best suited for self and peer evaluation. The explicit teaching of teamwork and use of the Team-Q provide students with clear guidelines about what constitutes effective teamwork, and performance evaluations to gauge students’ skill development. ""Preliminary evidence suggests that teamwork skills improve over time when taught and anonymously peer-assessed.  �   

Self%evalua)on,Scores,

Peer,Rater,Average,Scores,, External,Rater,Average,Scores,

Peer,1,,,Peer,2,,,Peer,3,,,Peer,4,,,Peer,5,,,,,,,,,,,,

Note:,**p,<,.01,,r=,Pearson’s,correla)on,,ICC=,Intra%class,correla)on,coefficient, α=,Cronbach’s,alpha,

Facilitator,,,,RA,1,,,,RA,2,

(14,items),α,=,.91,

(14,items),α,=,.97,

(14,items),α,=,.93,

r=,.54**, r=,.13,

ICC,=,.69, ICC,=,.69,

Britton, E., Simper, N., Leger A., Stephenson J., (2015) Assessing Teamwork in Undergraduate Education: A measurement tool to evaluate individual teamwork skills. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-21.     

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Team-Q Items

Teamwork dimensions identified in meta-analysis by Valentine Nembhard and

Edmonson (2012)

Com

mun

icat

ion

Shar

ed d

ecis

ion-

mak

ing

Use

of

all m

ember

s’

exper

tise

Full

par

tici

pat

ion

Col

labor

atio

n

Lear

ning

Ori

enta

tion

Coo

rdin

atio

n an

d e

ffor

t

Soci

al s

uppor

t

Res

pec

t (f

or m

ember

s an

d t

heir

con

trib

utio

ns)

Psyc

holo

gic

al s

afet

y

Act

ive

conf

lict

man

agem

ent

Shar

ed o

bje

ctiv

es

Gro

up c

ohes

ion

Participates actively and accepts a fair share of the group work + + +

Works skillfully on assigned tasks and completes them on time + +

Gives timely, constructive feedback to team members, in the appropriate format + + + +

Communicates actively and constructively + + +

Encourages all perspectives be considered and acknowledges contributions of others + + + + + + Constructively builds on contributions of others and integrates own work with work of others

+ + +

Takes on an appropriate role in group (e.g. leader, note taker) + +

Clarifies goals and plans the project + + + +

Reports to team on progress + + + +

Ensures consistency between words, tone, facial expression and body language + +

Expresses positivity and optimism about team members and project + + + + +

Displays appropriate assertiveness: neither dominating, submissive, nor passive aggressive + +

Contributes appropriately to healthy debate + + + + + +

Responds to and manages direct/indirect conflict constructively and effectively +