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Recently, two-stage exams were introduced in two large second year genetic courses (>250 students) at two different universities. The courses follow similar formats and use course learning outcomes, activities, and materials developed by the two instructors. Two-stage exams are those in which students first write an exam individually, followed immediately by a second stage in which they write the same, or similar, exam as part of a small group. Student exam grades comprised 85% individual score and 15% group score. Typically, exam scores improved in the group portion, however, the extent of the improvement varied between groups, and for several group scores were lower than the average of members’ individual scores. The goal of this project is to identify factors that may influence learning and student performance gains (Group Score – Average of Members’ Individual Scores) in the collaborative component. To determine group-composition factors that impact group scores, we compared individual and group scores from midterm and final exams, of fixed (group members stayed the same throughout all 3 exams) and dynamic (composition of group members changed in at least one exam) groups. Preliminary results show that while group composition does not have a significant effect on predicting group score, the average individual performance of students in a group impact student gains (the difference between a group’s score and the average of the members’ individual scores). We hope to use this opportunity to discuss different approaches to assess factors impacting performance on collaborative exams. |
