Publications

Student collaborative assignments are becoming more common across Higher Education and also feature in a large number of EAP programmes. However, there is a significant gap between researcher and practitioner conceptions of the term (Bolster & Levrai, in press). At the BALEAP 2019 conference in Leeds, we attempted to close the gap and proposed a definition for a collaborative assignment in EAP, drawing on both research and practitioner perspectives; “A collaborative assignment is one where learners work together and make equitable contributions to develop an indivisible artefact for which they share responsibility and ownership. During the development of the artefact, learners may work synchronously or asynchronously, face-to-face or online, but there is interdependence between group members, drawing on all their strengths.” (Bolster & Levrai, 2019).
Having a clear definition of a term allows investigation into best practice and this talk goes on to discuss the implications for practice in terms of assignment design, delivery, and assessment. We will discuss the practicalities of designing and implementing a collaborative assignment. We will also look at how a practitioner can navigate what can be a problematic process and move from being a “guide on the side” (Rummel and Deiglmayr, 2018) to make the most of an innovative approach.