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Week 3EME6403

Establishing Individual Accountability

One of the most commonly reported sources of frustration when working in groups is when someone in the group does not do his/her fair share of the work and you feel like telling that someone to go jump in the lake (press CTRL-key & click on photo). This week, we examine the methods for establishing individual accountability – another key component in any cooperative learning activity. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the individual in order to ascertain who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in learning (and to ensure that individual contributes his/her share of the group work). You will learn about some of the methods used to establish individual accountability through direct experience as we begin the first phase of our first group project (complete contract and the first round of peer evaluations at the end of the week). Brace yourself for a busy week!

Activity 3.1 – Readings

Why establish individual accountability and what methods can be used to establish it?
-- Johnson, Johnson & Holubec (1994) Chapter 7 pp. 55-56(in your course textbook)
-- Role of Contracts (Murphy, 2000)
-- Group contract & peer evaluation, Beichner (2003) pp. 10,12,13
-- Peer evaluation system, Brown (1995)
-- Peer assessment & evaluation issues (see PeerAssessmentEvaluation.doc)
-- Johnson, Johnson & Holubec (1994) Chapter 13 Processing group effectiveness
What procedures can we use to assign students to groups using selected criteria?
-- Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec (1994) Chapter 3 pp. 25-28
-- Clark & Mayer (2003) group size p. 208
-- Conrad & Donaldson (2004) pp. 60-73
-- Beichner (2003) p. 16
How does one decideon the number of students to assign to each group?
-- Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec (1994) Chapter 3 pp. 24-25

Activity 3.2a –Group Project#1 Orientation

Requirements: 4wikipostings minimum per student (10 pts)**

Deadline:Complete by this Sunday

It is time to start working on your first collaborative assignment!Review the instructions and materials for Group Projects #1and#2 and go to the designated wiki to discuss the group project instructions, procedures, group contract, and peer-evaluation form. Focus on identifying and clarifying the goals and expectations of project #1, identify and breaking down the goals into its major tasks or subtasks, the major task constraints. Share and respond to other students’ questions and comments with your thoughts, and your interpretation and understanding of project 1 to converge toward a shared understanding of the project goals.

**For each wikiposting, remember to type in your first & last name enclosed in parentheses.

Activity 3.2b – Group Project #1 Orientation

Deadline:Complete by this Sunday++

See team member assignments at From this webpage, go to your team’s assigned wiki to: a) share contact information; b) identify days and times for synchronous meetings (if needed); c)initiate communication and get acquainted with team members; c)identify possible roles and responsibilities for each team member; d) elect a team leader to help keep the team on track and to serve as the team’s main point of contact with your course instructor; and e)share questions and answers to assist one another in completing Activity 3.4 (see below).

++There are no minimum required postings or points awarded for this activity. However, your peers will evaluate the quality of your contributions in this week’s peer evaluations (see activity 3.6)

Activity 3.3 – Review & Sign Group Contract

Requirements: One“I agree” postingper student (5 pts)

Deadline:Complete by this Sunday

In project #1, performance criteria and procedures have been put in place to establish individual accountability(see chapter 7 in the JJH textbook) and to ensure that all team members carry their fair share of the team work. In this project, you will be conducting weekly peer evaluations to provide your course instructor information on each team member’s contributions to the project and to provide team members with constructive feedback to help team members improve their performance (see examples and alternativesin PeerAssessmentEvaluation.doc and Beicher2003). To review and express that you fully understand and consent to the procedures used to establish accountability, complete the following tasks:

  1. Go to the discussion forum “Completed Assignments…”
  2. Open and read the message “Project #1 Group Contract”. Then click Reply button.
  3. Type “I agree to these terms” into the subject heading of your reply

Activity 3.4–Construct Personal Theories via Causal Diagrams

Requirements: Submit causal map (15 pts)

Deadline:Start after Monday 8pm. Complete by this Sunday

Last week, we identified and classifiedsome of the most critical factors (good and bad) that shape the outcome of group assignments. Your instructor has selected a fixed set of factors from all the factors considered in last week’s group discussions.Now, you will analyze and map the cause-effect relationships between the selected factors into a causal diagram to express your beliefs aboutthe cause-effect relationships between the factors and events(framed within the context of a specific group assignment that you experienced in a past course), and how the factors ultimately determine the quality and level of group performance in collaborative assignments. The causal map you produce in this activity will and must be used to represent your personal theory of CSCL, and will serve as an integral part of your personal theory paper. To complete this activity:

  1. Review functions & qualities of good causal maps/theories – Review six example causal mapsthat explain how choice of media determine learning outcomes, rank them from best to worst map, and formulate possible criteria used to rank the maps. Compare your rankings and criteria to your instructor’s rankings and criteria.Also, see reading on how to identifyand articulate cause-effects relationships.
  1. Download “jmapAct3.4.xls” and save to computer as 6403FirstLastName1.xls. The file containsthe nodes representing the factors deemed to be of greatest significance (based on last week’s discussion).Before you open jMAP, boot up Excel and select menu option Tools/Macros/Security/Medium level (on the Mac, go to Preferences and check to Warn when opening file with macros).[ jmapAct3.4.xls][ Video help ] [ example map ]
    Experiencing Technical Problems?If you are not able to run jMAP and its macros (MacOS, Vista, Excel 2006+), try using a different computer, OR follow steps described in jMAPManualInstructions.doc.
  2. Specify cause-effect relationships between factors–In jMAP, click “New link” to link and specify cause-effect relationshipsbetween the factors (seevideo demo). Using your best judgment, specify:
    a)strength of causal link with values 1 = weak, 2 = moderate, 3 = strong causal impact. For example, if A increases learning by 25%, and B increases learning by 100%, you can assign the link between A learning a value of 1 (weak) and the link between Blearning a value of 3 (strong).
    b)plausibility (how much truth?) of the proposed link based on the level of evidenciary support gleaned from personal knowledge and observations from past experiences withcollaborative work/assignments (see Excel worksheet from Activity 2.3). Is your proposed link based purely on theory or fact? Assign level of evidenciary support as 1 = purely in theory, 2 = somewhat on facts from previous experience, 3 = strongly based on facts from previous experience.
    General Tips: Refer back to your original notes about their inter-relationship (including the specific instructional context) you produced in Activity 2.3.1.Use some of the same tips described in that section to identify important cause-effect relationships between the factors/events and learning outcome. Apply the causal map criteria (see Part 1 above) as you rearrange and link the factors and outcomes.
  3. Position and Connect Factors with Links. Connect the factors with your links and position the factors on the map to convey the temporal sequence of events (from left to right) that lead to the desired learning outcome.Left mouse click on any factor to view a description of the factor. To re-position the factor, RIGHT mouse click once on the factor, place the cursor over the edge of the factor, then hold the left mouse button down as you drag the factor to a new location on the map.[ video instructions ]
  4. Check links –Click the ‘UpdateMatrix’ buttonto a) checkthat all links are actually connected to the intended factors (red dots should be present at both ends of each link), and b) upload the data in your map into a table representation stored in the MyMatrix page in your jMAP file. Check that the number of counted links is correct.
  5. Enter Map Info - Click ‘SubmitMatrix’ button and enter GroupID = 6403 and click OK. Then enter first and last name, and click OK. Then enter map number “1” and click OK. Then type ‘y’ to upload the data in MyMatrix to the network.
  6. Submit map - Click“Submit map” button to upload a copy of your jMAP file to the network. A “Thank you” prompt will confirm that you have successfully submitted the map. All submitted maps will be used later with jMAP to aggregate all individual maps into a collective group map which will be used to identify the level of agreement and disagreement on specific causal links. This information will be used to help focus the dialog between group members to collaboratively develop a coherent and well-grounded theory of CSCL in group project #2.

Activity 3.5– Sharing Questions, Answers & Feedback on jMAP activity

Requirements: 2wikipostings minimum per student (5 pts) **

Deadline:Complete by this Sunday

Post questions, comments, & suggestionsabout Activity 3.4 and the jMAP software in the discussion forum designated for this activity. What did you like most about activity 3.3? What did you like the least? What difficulties did you experience as you worked on your causal map? What suggestions do you have on ways to improve jMAP? Share and respond to other students’ question about jMAP. This is one of the very first implementations of jMAP and there will likely be some technical glitches or flaws in the jMAP software design. As a result, your comments and suggestions will help identify ways to improve the software for future implementations.[Go to wiki discussion ]

Activity 3.6 – Processing Group Effectiveness

Requirements:Post peer eval for week #3 (5 pts)

Deadline:Complete by this Sunday

To help establish individual accountability and to help monitor group performance, complete the weekly online peer evaluationform with your evaluations of each team member’s performancein week 3. Throughout the group project, your weekly peer evaluation form will provide information on how you and your team is functioning and will enable you and team member(s) to identify and resolve potential problems in the group’s performance.In this activity, you will also learn how to use Google’s online spreadsheet application to host, post, compile, and share your weekly evaluations with group members and your course instructor.

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