is useful for the assessment  of collaborative learning.

2. I find very useful the questions she poses to her students  are a valid example of the 3 types of assessment and give us a hint on how to work on those when implementing a collaborative work.

3. and 4. Maybe implementing peer assessment for very young pupils is useful because it makes them used to it, and they can have fun provided that it is done in a playful and simple way, with flashcards and funny emoticons.

4. I think Chrysa’s challenging questions are shared by all us teachers here, because assessing means being fair to each of them. If we don’t give a fair assessment to each student, they may get discouraged from our non-consistency.

The various methods adopted are very pertinent. The questions she asked were helpful because it helps students reflect. In part they are similar to the ones I use in my practice.

Self-assessment should be used from any age and the sooner students begin to create this type of routines the better.

In my opinion it is difficult to individually assess a group methodology, but it is not at all impossible.

Metacognition means "thinking about thinking" is the ability of self-reflection of the ongoing cognitive processes.

 

I think that peer assessment is important for learning activities.

 

A valid way to constructively check the individual participation and performance within collaborative work is to use a  rubric that clearly articulates the different behavioral components of participation and that describes these behaviors at different performance levels. rivateQ�

The questions posed by the teacher were pertinent and helped the students to reflect on the work done, their involvement and performance and the group's functioning, as well about the quality of the final product. The emphasis given to the need for feedback to students is also very important.

The implementation of peer evaluation with young students is not only possible as advisable as it contributes to the development of various skills and helps them to become aware of their performance and peer performance, helping to reduce children's self-centeredness and promote the interrelation and interaction between them.

Special considerations to be taken into account are related to the form, clarity, purpose and outcome of the assessment, which should be thought according to the level and age of the students.

In fact, I also find it difficult to assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity.

Peer assessment works very well with younger students, because they are much more spontaneous in telling their opinion. The teacher might only pay attention in moderating the comments on each other's work. Yes, the most difficult task is trying to be as objective as possible during the assessment work, and to render it a constructive element of the learning process.

·         What would you keep from their presentation?

·         Did I listen carefully?

·         Did I applaud and encourage the effort of other members?

I think it is very wise to work with children in primary school that way, so they get used to it.

About the three different factors of evaluation she used: individual performance, group performance and the group’s functionality. She had some doubts about the evaluation of individual performance and I think that if it does not encourages students to competition between themselves it is okay too. 

 

I liked very much Chrysa Tsamopoulou’s lesson plan. It is so successful, more detailed. She planned every steps in activity and  she was so careful during the assesment. Also asking questions to the students increase the strength of the assesment and  fixed the handicaps of the activity.

 

You can implement peer-assessment, no matter what the age of students is, if you are able to create a positive  learning enviroment. This is not easy. Students should be guided to express their ideas: they should be taught to point out the pros and the cons of their mates' work using polite and supportive words. A useful method is to make them to think about their feelings when they are criticized not in a proper way. Evaluation grids and rubrics are useful, because this way assessment takes into account collaborative products and students' approach from a more ojective point of view.

 

In order to assess individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity, every member of the team should have the opportunity of evaluating the other members. If in a group there are four people, in the end the teacher can rely on three different peer-evaluation. This could be the basis of the final assessment about how a student participated to the activity, if the teacher integrates it with his observations. Usually students are very honest in these situations, if they know that their opinion is seriously taken into account by the teacher. 

Assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity is making by juxtaposition checklist or progress level scales, evaluation filled up by everyone in group and by teacher’s observations.

Assessment should be age appropriate in both content and the method of data collection. 

 Assessments must have a clear benefit—either directly to the child performances, practices or to  improve quality of educational programes, mehodologies.

I still find difficult to apply instruments that can increase the subjectivity of the assessment and I am concerned about the need to convert individual performances into a fair final individual grade.

When we evaluate, we must always be careful with subjectivity, since the evaluation or assessment has to be classified, weighted and allowed to identify the level of performance of the student and the group.

Therefore, we believe that the assessment method used by the teacher Chrysa is adequate to the work carried out, in this case, the collaborative work.

The assessment/evaluation should, whenever possible, assess the individual and social performance of the student, both in the individual work and in the work in and in the group.

Every assessment should be facilitating and well defined, the criteria we evaluate should be presented to the evaluated and understandable, it is like playing, the rules  should be well defined and clear at the beginning of the game.

And yes, the questions posed by the Chrysa faculty are direct and simple, they give a sense of the performance levels of the students, both individually and in groups. As we already do in some essentially practical classes.

As in the moments in which we work with our students to solve problems, they work in groups and the teaching-learning process is evaluated by observation and small questionnaires that evaluate the process / work.

But it is always a challenge, we never have the same students and the same classes. A beautiful adventure.

In collaborative learning when evaluation of the students is based on his personal performance, resulting in a reduction of team spirit.  It seems to me that the conditions were created so that students could participate actively in the review process.

About the functionality of the Group was evaluated the cooperative attitude and solidarity among the members of the groups. So it is very important the self-assessment, peer review and all the feedback given to each group.

I agree with the professor that the evaluation applied to work in groups is not easy. it is important to establish the evaluation criteria before starting the activity. for this purpose it can help you use rubrics. rubrics make students and teachers aware of how to proceed to get accurate results.

Yes, I do find it challenging to assess individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity, but I think that some digital tools can help. I’m more interested in her second question of to what extend it is appropriate to carry out discrete assessments for individual group members when the final outcome is a product of collaborative work.

 

The most difficult part might really be to evaluate with precision and fairness the individual participation of each student in collaborative activities.

 I feel this constraint presented by Chrysa.

The questions she asked to students were very helpful to students reflect about their collaborative skills.

The development of effective self and peer assessment takes considerable time and effort. 

The teacher have to give feedback explicit and ensure that pupils understand and follow the stablish rules when working in groups or with response partners.

Respect the work of others, identify successful features, think about the learning objective and the success criteria when suggesting improvements and used word suggestions positively are some rules that student have to follow to peer assessment.

Having assessed the work of others, pupils will find it easier to identify weaknesses in their own work and to see how they can make improvements. They should be encouraged to reflect on their own development and progress, comparing their current work with that produced previously and with their own personal targets.

Showing examples of work that do and do not meet the success criteria can help pupils to understand more fully what is required and to reflect on the things they need to do in order to improve. Looking at the work of others can also help pupils to understand the different approaches they could have taken and to appreciate that there are different ways of achieving success. 

Pupils generally enjoy supporting one another in their work but both self and peer assessment need to be managed carefully. Following any self-assessment activity pupils should be given sufficient time and opportunity to make improvements. A potential danger of pupils comparing their work with others is that some pupils may be excessively or insufficiently challenged and become demotivated. It is therefore important that pupils understand that everyone’s learning journey may be different. It is also important that pupils can admit to areas of weakness without risk to their self-esteem.

Personally I have to think about process because I believe it's not easy for a teacher suddenly change her/his mindset. After all that's why I follow the course: I want to learn and reflect on what I learn to apply it in my classes!

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 We believe that peer assessment should be done regardless of age but suitable to it in respect of content, activities... We think that how earliest the peer evaluation process starts, sooner the students will internalize the evaluation procedures. Evaluating is for us the most complicated part of the process. The last question that Chrysa poses to us is one of those most troublesome to us because it is difficult to evaluate subjective parameters. y����

2.     Assess process as well as product.

3.      Make your assessment criteria and grading scheme clear                                               

I am evaluating the students as the work develops and at the moment of the presentation of the final product. In my records I have group evaluation items and individual performance items (for example: reveals responsibility for the tasks assigned to it; justifies and defends their proposals; formulates constructive criticisms; is receptive to constructive criticism). In the end, after gathering all the data I give the students feedback and still give them the opportunity to speak up. In this way, the collaborative work extends to the evaluation. �

 
Each student completed a self-assessment sheet to evaluate his/her personal contribution to the group functionality: 

With options: YES – LITTLE – NO

Conclusion: I think the questions which Chrysa asked her pupils are very effective and can be answered by young pupils also.
The way how she combined the three possibilities of assessment is very meaningful. It is a well considered concept.

As a special consideration to be taken into account I would like to refer the need to use this strategy more than one time for students to become accustomed to the all process.

Like Chrysa, I also come to question the extent to which it is pertinent to make an individual assessment of a collaborative work .