Wrapping up the Project

Share the finished projects with the entire class

If your group project lasted more than a few class sessions, it is useful to share the final products of each group  with the entire class. This serves two purposes. First, this makes student work public, which can result in higher quality products. Second, it allows students to learn from other groups’ work.

How to do it:

  • Have a class session at the end of the semester/unit where all group projects are shared. This could take the form of a poster session, a series of presentations, on discussion boards, or videos. Other ideas include inviting outside experts to view and perhaps comment on student work or having students vote on the best or their favorite works.
  • Display final projects on your course site. To ensure that students do view each other’s work, require some type of feedback by students.

Celebrate the success of the project

It's important to show students how far they have come over the course of the semester. The language you use can help students realize and articulate the skills that they developed in your class.

How to do it:

  • Review group accomplishments. Show students what they have accomplished with their projects by connecting them to the course outcomes. When you enumerate and describe the skills students have learned in the class, emphasize how these skills will benefit them in the future. Alternatively, you could ask students to reflect on make the connections.
  • Provide students with the opportunity to acknowledge the support they got from each other. You can do in class or by having students write note to each other.
  • Administer an end-of-class knowledge survey. If students were given a pre-course knowledge probe, administer the same survey at the end of the class to show students how far they have advanced in their knowledge.

 

Collect feedback from students on the assignment

At the end of the project, collect student feedback on how the assignment helped their learning in the class. Ask about assignment logistics, descriptions, and faculty support to determine both areas of project strengths and improvement that could be made in the next iteration. Having the project come to some sort of official conclusion, which should include a reflective element, can also result in students feeling more connected to the course material (Holmes, 2010).

How to do it:

  • Create a survey to distribute at the end of the semester that students complete in class (if possible) and return to you. Keeping these surveys anonymous helps ensure that students will give honest answers.  The survey could ask questions such as:
    • What worked?  What could work better?
    • If I were to assign this project again, what should I, as the instructor, keep doing?  What should I start doing?  What should I stop doing?
    • What aspects of the project were most beneficial to your learning? What suggestions do you have for changing the project?

Reflect on the success of the project

It’s important to look at the success of the project from the standpoint of the instructor. What improvements in learning did you see as a result of this project? Are there additional sub-assignments that would have helped students? What was your grading load like? Where did students seem to struggle the most?

How to do it:

  • Set aside time on your calendar after the semester to reflect on what went well and what could be improved in your group project assignment.
  • Use your course syllabus to keep notes on the project throughout the semester. Refer to these notes during reflection time. Even if you didn’t take notes, your syllabus can provide a structured outline for considering each of the project components.
  • If you have a TA, ask them for feedback. You could also task them with keeping notes throughout the semester on how the project is progressing and on what they are hearing from students.

References