There isn’t one right solution when it comes to considering students with a disability and/or extenuating circumstances in a group work assessment. Involving students in the solution process on a case-by-case basis may help students take more responsibility and help alleviate any feelings of unfairness.
Try to approach each case with the perspective of improving things for a whole of the group, such as through the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach.
Common scenarios
Scenario
A student is a professional athlete and is away for a championship for the first four weeks of the group work project.
Reasonable adjustments
Preventative
- Make students aware of any group work before or at the start of a course, so that students can alert you to any planned absences in advance.
Intervention
- The student will commit to completing extra work and duties to make up for missed work. The terms need to be agreed by all group members and written into the team charter (see First Meeting section), which they can refer to if any issues arise.
- The student has an adjusted weighting of the group assessment for their final grade.
Alternative
The student completes an alternative, individual assessment (if possible). Groups are allocated without the student who will be away, so that all groups are equitable.
Example
A student has dyslexia and is on a personal Education Access Plan (EAP) and may require additional adjustments.
Reasonable adjustment
Preventative
- Tasks within the group are assigned to group members that work to everyone’s strengths, being mindful to prevent siloing of any technical skills all students should develop. This can be negotiated by completing a ‘Skills Audit’ at the start of the project (see Introducing Groupwork for more on this).
Intervention
- The student has an adjusted weighting of the group assessment for their final grade.
Alternative
- The student completes an alternative, individual assessment (if possible).
Scenario
A student requests an extension for group assessment. They have an EAP or medical certificate which states they are entitled, if required. However, the rest of the group does not have an EAP.
Reasonable adjustments
Preventative
- Suggest student uses EAP to get extensions for other individual assessments, so they may prioritise group work.
Intervention
- Extension for individual component(s) of project only, e.g. self-reflection task.
- Negotiate with the student (and potentially the rest of the group) what is an equitable and a fair consideration for everyone. It may not be equitable to extend a full group project.
Alternative
- Adjust the weighting of their final grade, and the other members of the group retain original weighting, but all have the same due date.
Note
A student’s EAP needs to explicitly state extensions or adjustments are required for group work specifically. If the EAP is for general individual assessments, the EAP is not valid, and student must seek advice from Accessibility.
Scenario
A student suffers from social anxiety and is unable perform group work. They have an EAP for a mental health condition which may allow for adjustments.
Reasonable adjustment
Preventative
- Social interaction and participation adjustments, e.g. students attend group meetings only online. This may be outlined in the team charter.
- Provide support resources and information on support services.
Intervention
- Adjust the weighting of their final grade to accommodate, while other members of the group retain original weighting.
- Schedule group meetings during class time, so that an educator can offer additional support.
Alternative
- Provide equivalent alternative individual assessment (if possible).
- If no reasonable adjustments can be made and groupwork is inherent to the learning outcomes of the course, advice should be sought from the Access & Inclusion Office.
Note
If group work is inherent to the requirements of the course and the student cannot complete this, they may need to withdraw from the course.
- Where group work is inherent to the course work and learning outcomes, a statement could be included for on the relevant course page on the Programs and Courses website to make students aware of course requirements. Group work assessment should be listed in the course outline so that students are aware before starting.
- If the purpose of group work is to build skills relevant to the discipline and cannot be assessed outside of group work, it may not be possible to give students alternative assessments.
- If a student needs an adjustment, they are required to disclose this with the course convenor as soon as possible, ideally – before a course commences.
- Adjustments may be made to enable a student with a disability to participate in a course, however those adjustments must not fundamentally change the nature of the course’s inherent requirements. View the Disability Policy and Adjustments for Students who disclose a disability at ANU for more information.
- When making a reasonable adjustment for a student, consult with a course convenor, course coordinator or ADE. For more help with accessibility, inclusion, EAPs, and more, you can consult with Accessibility at ANU for additional support.
- If adjustments impact a student’s group and their project planning, ensure that this is communicated with the whole group.
First year cohorts
First year cohorts often need extra consideration during group work due to lack of experience with group work, less familiarity with each other and higher education more broadly. There are, however, strong motivations to include group work in a first-year cohort, particularly post-COVID, to help build a sense of community (Pei et al., 2023).
- Using group work only as formative assessment, so to build students’ capacity and skills working in teams ready for subsequent years.
- Actively building students’ capacity in skills such as communication, feedback and teamwork.
- Incorporating more scaffolding, structure and support into the design and facilitation of group work.
- That groups may need more support in dispute resolution.
- Avoiding small (2-3 person) groups because of relatively high first-year dropout rates compared to later years.
- Including icebreakers and time in class for students to build important social connections that they have yet to establish.
- Placing more emphasis on group submissions, as first year cohorts tend to be larger, and this may save time on grading and feedback.
- Asking students to fill in a form with key information before or on commencement of the course to help allocate students into more meaningful groups. This can be helpful regardless of the exact selection method you choose.
Community
Building a strong sense of community and belonging can help with retention rates, which is often an issue in first-year cohorts (Meehan & Howells, 2019).
Transdisciplinary courses
Transdisciplinary courses are becoming a key priority for ANU and higher education more broadly. In the increasingly likely event where you find yourself setting group work for a transdisciplinary course, it may be necessary to ensure that the assessment meaningfully requires a variety of disciplinary skills to complete.
- A transdisciplinary project that requires students to collaborate across disciplinary differences and learn from each other.
- Focus on larger and longer-term group assessments for effective transdisciplinary work.
- Actively encourage groups to develop a common language for their project, explicitly discussing what any technical terms mean in each discipline to reduce ambiguity.
- Consider how contributions from different skills and disciplinary backgrounds can be valued equally.
Further reading
- Improving Group Satisfaction: making groups work in a first-year undergraduate course (Bonanno, Jones & English, 1998)
- ANU Graduate Attributes report: Capability to Employ Discipline-based Knowledge in Transdisciplinary Problem Solving
- Developing a Conceptual Framework for Transdisciplinary Teamwork (Brazdauskaite & Rasimaviciene 2015)
- ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Courses
References
Meehan, C., & Howells, K. (2019). In search of the feeling of ‘belonging’ in higher education: Undergraduate students transition into higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(10), 1376–1390. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2018.1490702
Pei, L., Poortman, C., Schildkamp, K., & Benes, N. (2023). Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of a sense of community in blended education. Education and Information Technologies. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11853-y