Teams
What is it?
PETS (Proactively Ensuring Team Success) is a structured, quality assured process developed by Assoc. Prof. Lydia Kavanagh and her team in a national Australian Learning and Teaching Council project to more effectively support and manage student teams.
The process, described in a comprehensive manual, includes purposeful team allocation, in-semester mentoring and peer assessment as formative feedback. Online, open-source elements of the PETS process include Working in Teams, a customisable interactive team information website for students and an online peer-evaluation tool WebPAf which enables team members to evaluate individual contributions to teamwork. The peer evaluation process ensures fair grades for team members based on individual performance. WebPAf is currently being re-developed by CEIT. The new version will provide improved functionality and will integrate with the LMS.
Who uses it?
The process, and the specific resources developed to support the process, have found wide application at higher education institutions in Australia and internationally.
- WebPAf
The online assessment tool is being used by: - The University of Queensland (EAIT faculty: More than 10 courses at all year levels and across Schools, and the School of Journalism and Communication)
- Monash University (Faculty of Engineering)
- The University of Western Australia (Faculty of Engineering)
- The University of Tasmania (Faculty of Engineering)
- The University of Canterbury (Faculty of Engineering)
- Working in Teams
The website team training tool has been customised and is being used by: - The University of Queensland ( EAIT Faculty, Science Faculty, School of Dentistry, Health Faculty, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, and School of Journalism and Communication)
- Monash University
- RMIT (School of Management)
More information
Please contact A/Prof Lydia Kavanagh (EAIT), eLearning Educational Designer Esther Fink (EAIT) or Neville Smith (Health Sciences) if interested in PETS.
Kavanagh, Lydia, Neil, David and Cokley, John (2011) Developing and disseminating team skills capacities using interactive online tools for team formation, learning, assessment and mentoring: Final report 2011 Australia: The Australian Learning and Teaching Council
Kavanagh, L., Harrison, J., Cokley, J., and Neil, D. (2010) Proactively Ensuring Team Success: A guide to effective student project teams in higher education, Instructors Manual