Assessing collaborative problem solving skills for the 21st century – Meet CRADLE Fellow M. Reza Hosseini
4 July 2019
Dr M. Reza Hosseini is a Senior Lecturer in Construction in Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment. He was awarded a CRADLE Fellowship in 2018. Here, he discusses how he developed an interest in assessing collaborative problem solving skills, and his path to becoming a CRADLE Fellow.
What are you researching during your CRADLE Fellowship?
For modern teams across various industries, face-to-face interaction is considered expensive, disruptive, and inefficient. Consequently, the work is more often executed by geographically dispersed, digitally mediated teams of specialists – colloquially termed ‘digital networks.’ The use of digital networks is on the rise and, accordingly, the collaborative problem solving (CPS) skillset is receiving extra attention, since 21st century workers increasingly solve their task-related problems through mediated interactions with peers remotely. CPS has become an essential 21st century skill, and is therefore of increasing interest when assessing students. The objective is measuring students’ progression in learning the essential skills of managing digital information, communicating and collaborating during problem-solving. As a result, valid and reliable assessment constructs must be available; however, such constructs are non-existent in the current literature. My research project attempts to address this need, and my main objectives are:
- Developing constructs that assess university students’ skills in collaborative problem solving; and
- Introducing the best practices for integrating the identified constructs into students’ group assessment tasks.
How does your research link with CRADLE’s research objectives?
Recent figures suggest that around 66% of multinational organisations are using some form of digital networks, and 80% of companies are planning to use them. Enriching CPS in digital networks is one of the key educational goals for the 21st century. In line with the overall strategy pursued by Deakin to empower our students for the jobs of the future, the primary beneficiaries will therefore be our students. Secondary beneficiaries include educators and researchers across Deakin, and at other institutions, who seek to improve their students’ skills in teamwork, with the ultimate objective of promoting students’ digital literacy.
The final outcome of my project, providing valid constructs for assessing learning in digital networks, particularly falls within a main area of interest for CRADLE; namely, supporting excellent practice in assessment and digital learning at Deakin. With its focus on assessment tasks, my project also aligns with the overall aims of CRADLE: “investigating improvements in higher education assessment, in the context of a rapidly expanding digital environment, and making sure that assessment are compatible with digital learning.”
Why did you decide to apply for a Fellowship?
Digital networks, their arrangement and skillsets necessary for working in them have been my main areas of research since 2012, and also my PhD topic. Afterwards, in my teaching role, I redesigned two units – SRM751 and SRM165 – allocated to the concepts of information systems, digital technology work and web-based collaboration. In reflecting the realities of the industry, CPS and using digital technology were deemed essential elements for the assessment tasks to be designed for these two units. This provided me with a great opportunity to gain direct exposure to the challenges that students face in assessment tasks based on the concept of CPS – challenges which are exacerbated for online students, who have to collaborate within digital networks. My direct engagement with these challenges prompted the initial idea for this research project.
With the above in mind, I developed a good understanding of principles of designing assessment tasks and problem-based learning by completing my Graduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2017, along with several publications on education principles and 5-6 completed MSc thesis on education-related topics. Recognising that I would have to follow a systematic approach towards addressing the issues of CPS for my students, I decided to apply for a CRADLE Fellowship. This has provided me with the access to some of the best experts in the field, as well as resources to pursue my ambition of addressing the challenges I have observed in my own teaching.
Follow Reza on Twitter: @morehosseini
Find out more about CRADLE Fellowships here.
