InterPro - Teaching & Learning - Tools & Technology - FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation (Overview)

The FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation is a Canvas-integrated tool that allows students to self-assess and provide feedback to team members regarding their performance in group work.

FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation Overview

Description

FeedbackFruits (FbF) Group Member Evaluation is a Canvas-integrated tool used to create rubrics or rating scales for students to provide teammates with feedback about their group work contributions. Instructors may choose to release group members' feedback to students either by including student names or anonymously using a "fruity pseudonym." Instructors are always able to see student names.

Access

The FbF Group Member Evaluation tool is available to all instructors in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. Evaluation activities using the external FbF Group Member Evaluation tool are created and recommended to be delivered to students as Canvas assignments.

Application and Limitations

Consider using the FbF Group Member Evaluation tool for courses designed with significant group work conducted over a period of several weeks. The Group Member Evaluation tool provides opportunities for students to improve their feedback and group work skills by asking them to submit ratings and constructive comments to peers based on criteria predetermined by the instructor. Students, in turn, can self-assess and receive feedback from their peers including reviews of the quality of their submitted feedback. The tool can also be used by students to evaluate peer presentations. Optionally, instructors may offer students the opportunity to become more reflective practitioners by asking for a written reflection on the received feedback.

Student feedback submissions are automatically saved and can be changed up until the submission deadline. Instructors may optionally choose to grade students' participation, feedback quality, ratings received, or if they have read their received feedback or written a required activity reflection.

Group member evaluations may be conducted early and throughout the semester to provide formative feedback to guide and improve student performance within the semester. These formative assessments may be low-stake or graded as "completion only" as students learn skills and the Group Member Evaluation tool. A summative assessment near the semester's or project's conclusion can be used to improve students' contributions to future group work. If group work is a significant course component, consider using both formative and summative assessments to allow students to show improvement throughout the course.

The Group Member Evaluation tool provides a guided and streamlined interface for students to interact with each other and gather feedback during group work. The tool cannot, however, replace thinking intentionally about how students are assigned to groups, providing context for giving and receiving meaningful feedback, or setting student group work goals and expectations. See Group Work: Methods of Good Practice (UW-Madison).

Student Experience

Students typically access the FbF Group Member Evaluation activity as an assignment listed in a Canvas module.
Students do not need to leave Canvas to complete the assignment.
Students evaluate other students and optionally themselves (listed across the top of a table) based on criteria set by the instructor (listed down the left of the table).

FeedbackFruits Evaluation Rubric header

Students then review their received feedback in a similar format. Note that in the example shown below, reviewers are anonymous to the student being evaluated.

FeedbackFruits received feedback table header

Instructor Experience

Instructors can

Review assignment progress.

Grant a deadline extension for this portion of the assignment (giving feedback) to one or more students.

Change the deadline for this portion of the assignment.

FeedbackFruits instructor perspective

Instructors can view student progress toward both providing feedback and reading their reviewers' feedback.
Instructors also have the option to publish grades to the Canvas gradebook.

Avoid these Pitfalls

Group Member Evaluation activities may be created in Canvas as an assignment or as an item in a module. In order for activity scores to be published to the Canvas gradebook, the activity must be created as a Canvas assignment. After the Canvas assignment is created, a grade column will automatically be added to the Canvas gradebook for the assignment. This grading integration is not possible when creating a Group Member Evaluation activity under the Canvas Modules tab. You can add the assignment to a module after creating it from Assignments.

FeedbackFruits assignments can use student group sets created in Canvas. If you plan to use Canvas student group sets with a FbF activity, it is recommended that the group sets are established in Canvas prior to creating the FbF Group Member Evaluation assignment. See How do I add a group set in a course? (Canvas support).

When creating a FbF Group Member Evaluation assignment in a Canvas course, set up only the minimum requirements for the activity (give the activity a title and instructions), then save the activity, click Select in the external tool selector, and save the Canvas assignment. You will not be able to find any established Canvas course student groups until the first FbF assignment of the course is created this way, because the connection has not yet been made between Canvas and FeedbackFruits. The Group Member Evaluation activity can then be edited as necessary before publishing in the Canvas course.

If you choose to assign a group activity to only one section in Canvas, ensure that all students in the group are included within that same section. The assignment will be visible only to students in the assigned Canvas section.