Teachers’ practices and perceptions in a Mexican higher education context about out-of-class teamwork evaluation

Abstract

Not much has been said about Mexican teachers’ teaching practices regarding teamwork in higher education. Ruiz-Esparza Barajas et al. (2016) discussed university teachers’ perceptions of out-of-class teamwork. As part of the second stage of a larger project which attempts to shed light on university teaching practices regarding out-of-class teamwork, this study examines teachers’ practices of out-of-class teamwork from the assessment perspective. Teachers’ approaches to the evaluation of the outcomes of teamwork are a relatively unexplored area, especially in the Latin-American context. This qualitative research study accounts for the teamwork assigned by education or subject-related teachers and their evaluation approaches. Data collected from recorded interviews of twelve teachers working with teachers-to-be in 8 Mexican universities were transcribed to identify their beliefs and practices regarding evaluating out-of-class teamwork. The outcome of the analysis reveals teachers use teamwork for varied reasons and purposes; their expected outcomes are also dissimilar. While some teachers feel satisfied with their approach to evaluating out-of-class teamwork, others feel there is still work to do in this area. It may be suggested that this could be related to their initial purpose in using out-of-class teamwork.