Peter J Mellalieu
Peter MELLALIEU investigates and teaches innovation, creativity, enterprise development and design at Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Peter has particular interests in the establishment and development of new ventures and the identification and development of enterprising talent and teams. His current projects focus on education for environmental sustainability (EfS); the development of enterprise talent amongst indigenous peoples; and education for enterprise (E4E) in secondary and tertiary levels of education.
His undergraduate education in biotechnology and industrial engineering at Massey University was followed with a masters in public policy and doctorate in operations research at Victoria University of Wellington.
Following a decade of employment as an industrial research scientist specializing in agribusiness systems optimization, he began teaching strategic and general management in at Massey University, New Zealand.
He has field experience working and teaching in England, Botswana, Belgium, United States, and New Zealand.
Peter practices a special interest in the application of strengths-based approaches to his teaching and coaching practice.
Phone: +64 21 42 0118
Address: C/- MyndSurfers Ltd
20 Kotinga Avenue
Glen Eden
Auckland 0602
New Zealand
Peter has particular interests in the establishment and development of new ventures and the identification and development of enterprising talent and teams. His current projects focus on education for environmental sustainability (EfS); the development of enterprise talent amongst indigenous peoples; and education for enterprise (E4E) in secondary and tertiary levels of education.
His undergraduate education in biotechnology and industrial engineering at Massey University was followed with a masters in public policy and doctorate in operations research at Victoria University of Wellington.
Following a decade of employment as an industrial research scientist specializing in agribusiness systems optimization, he began teaching strategic and general management in at Massey University, New Zealand.
He has field experience working and teaching in England, Botswana, Belgium, United States, and New Zealand.
Peter practices a special interest in the application of strengths-based approaches to his teaching and coaching practice.
Phone: +64 21 42 0118
Address: C/- MyndSurfers Ltd
20 Kotinga Avenue
Glen Eden
Auckland 0602
New Zealand
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Teaching and Learning by Peter J Mellalieu
Meanwhile, students often loathe the experience and prospect of group assignments. Fair-minded students wonder why the freeloaders and bullies in their team should get the same academic grade. Ambitious students wonder if they will receive recognition for the extra effort and leadership they have contributed. Perhaps they should prioritise their efforts elsewhere? Other students wonder how they could improve both their own and their teammates’ contribution to the teamwork and leadership processes required for success. Teacher assign students to groups and hope that their students will develop the teamwork capabilities students need for academic and professional success.
To respond to these challenges teammate peer assessment is becoming recognized as contributing to fairer academic results and more valid assessments. Furthermore, when combined with timely peer feedback, students working on group assignments can adapt their behaviour to deliver better contributions and achieve better academic results for both their team and themself. Students also learn and demonstrate measured capabilities in teamwork, leadership, communication and project management that are valued by the workplace and professions, improve their success in future academic group assignments, and better prepare themselves for leadership roles within the fourth industrial revolution.
This book is intended as a practical handbook and reference guide for
- Teachers who wish to improve the validity and fairness of the group assignments they currently use with their students
- Teachers who wish to introduce or redesign their group assignments in a manner that maximises the many benefits for students that can emerge from such assignments
- Teachers who use contemporary teaching methods such as team-based learning and the flipped classroom who wish to improve their processes of teammate peer assessment and feedback
- Teaching and learning advisors who wish to understand the factors relevant to supporting teachers in their use of group assignments and peer assessment
- Programme and academic directors concerned with establishing academic policy for student group work and peer assessment.
- Teaching and learning technologists who wish to understand the factors relevant to the implementation of digital platforms that support teachers’ and students’ adoption of teammate peer assessment
- Institutional researchers who wish to use the results of teammate peer assessments in their institution to analyse issues such as student success, retention and failure
STEP 1: PREPARE the team assignment as an authentic learning experience
STEP 2: TEAM - Build your class into equally-capable teams
STEP 3: TRAIN your students to give honest feedback accurately
STEP 4: SURVEY - Create and distribute a teammate peer assessment survey
STEP 5: MANAGE - the peer assessment survey
STEP 6: FEEDBACK - Promote courageous conversations among your students
STEP 7: IMPROVE the next cycle of your students’ team assignments
The National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook Report for 2019 identified that teamwork, collaboration, professionalism, and oral communications rate amongst the most highly needed Career Readiness Competencies (CRCs) sought by employers (NACE, 2018). These competencies rate at least as ‘Essential’ or ’Absolutely essential’. To a lesser extent, global and multicultural fluency was rated as ‘Somewhat essential’. Nevertheless, the requirements for multicultural fluency are certainly rising. Consequently, teachers have the opportunity and responsibility to apply educational practices that maximise the benefits associated with assigning academic assignments to diversely-composed teams.
Group assignments provide learners with opportunities to establish, practice, and develop essential CRCs including multicultural fluency. However, for effective learning to be surfaced from a group assignment the teacher must ‘wrap around’ several additional learning processes. First, learners must distinguish between the exemplary, adequate, and inadequate demonstration of the CRCs. Second, learners must practice applying their CRCs within the context of their group assignment. Finally, well-managed peer assessment and peer feedback processes are crucial to ensuring that learners gain timely feedback on their CRC strengths and areas for development. Specifically, the peer feedback process must provide measures that value the inclusion of others and the contribution towards helping others learn course concepts and project requirements.
Group assignments generate several possible risks such as social loafing, exclusion, and dominating behaviour. These risks may be raised as group composition becomes more diverse as measured by factors such as culture, country of origin, geographic location, age, gender, subject discipline, personality, and life experience. Our evidence is that early risk identification through formative group peer assessment and peer feedback is an effective approach towards mitigating these types of risks, raising overall team cohesion, team performance, academic results, and, ultimately graduate employability (Sprague, Wilson, & McKenzie, 2019, Mellalieu & Dodd, 2018).
We address questions including:
- What is the role of peer assessment and peer feedback in raising academic outcomes and career-readiness competencies?
- How can peer assessments be adjusted to value the inclusion of others and helping others?
- What are the best practices for managing peer assessment and feedback in a teaching course comprising diverse learners?
- How can peer feedback be used to identify and mitigate promptly the risks associated with diverse and multicultural teams undertaking group assignments?
- How can the design of group projects be improved to value diversity and enable the enhancement of global and multicultural fluency?
A digital tool for teammate peer assessment and feedback enhances the effectiveness of learners’ group work through providing timely quantitative and qualitative information. That peer feedback, especially when provided formatively at the early stage of a group work, enables constructive conversations focused on precise pinpointing of opportunities to improve a team member’s contribution to their team’s achievement (Mellalieu & Dodd, 2018). In addition, a digital peer assessment platform calculates an individual personal result derived from the team’s result for its outputs combined with that student's Peer Assessed Score. When peer assessment contributes to a student’s personal grade, that is a significant contributor to reducing social loafing and free-loading behavior in group assignments (Sprague, Wilson, & McKenzie, 2019).
Selected volunteers from the workshop participants will play the role of a team member in one of several scenarios in which a group assignment is under review. The participants will conduct teammate peer assessment upon their team members using the digital tool Peer Assess Pro™, then review the individualised feedback reports typically available from the platform.
Participants will also experience, from the educator’s perspective, the Peer Assess Pro dashboard that presents alerts about learners and teams. Individual-specific alerts help the educator assess: Which learners may be at risk of course failure? Does qualitative evidence support the low peer rating provided? Which learners are exuberantly overconfident compared with the perception assessed by their team members? … Team-specific alerts also identify teams that have provided high-quality feedback in contrast to those defeating the purpose of peer feedback through lack of effective discrimination in their peer ratings. In response to the teacher’s intervention, the educator’s dashboard facilitates communications to targeted individuals in the class to suggest they may wish to reconsider their ratings (Peer Assess Pro, 2019).
The debrief of the learning adventure will review insights gained and discuss the value and practicalities of implementing a digitally-enabled peer assessment tool in participants’ course or programme.
This poster presents results from using peer assessment for team-based learning combined with a Flipped Classroom (Sahin & Kurban, 2016) conducted in several postgraduate courses over an 18 month period at an institute of higher education in Auckland, New Zealand.
However, the accelerated Action Learning framework conducted in this course enables the students to experience firsthand several Organisation Development interventions, such as team building, leadership development, and personal goal setting. In effect, the course itself is a learning laboratory organisation that improves itself through regular, weekly, self-diagnosis and continuous improvement, a ‘lived experience’ that the students reflect upon critically in relation to academic theory and best practice in their capstone Assignment 3. Peer assessment, both formative and summative, is one crucial tool that both raises team performance, minimises the risks of freeloading, and demonstrates the value of diagnosis-informed Organisation Development interventions at the team level.
Citation:
Mellalieu, P. J. (1999). Creating the A+ assignment: A project management approach (Working Paper). Massey University, College of Business. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1518836/
An audio track explaining the document is here:
Mellalieu, P. (2013, March 15). Creating The A Plus Assignment: A Project Management Approach (Audio). Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/45403052813/
See also:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2007, October 18). Model answer: A “Five Paragraph” essay in management. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www.academia.edu/1465813
Mellalieu, P. J. (2010a, November 8). Preparing an essay for a written test or examination (Part B): The Pogorific A+ exam-sitting method. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/1512453524/
Mellalieu, P. J. (2010b, November 8). Preparing an essay for a written test or examination (Part A). Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/1512039456/
Lim, M., & Mellalieu, P. (2013, November 18). Developing professional writing using the six trait rubric [video]. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/67325245170/
Mellalieu, P. J. (2013a, October 3). Exemplars and guidance for writing a technical executive summary and report. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/62931215234/exemplars-and-guidance-for-writing-a-technical
Mellalieu, P. J. (2013c, October 3). How should we write? Style guide suggestions for New Zealand business students. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/62961602825/how-should-we-write-style-guide-suggestions-for-new
For teachers in particular, see also:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2013b, October 3). How can we incentivise our students to develop an appropriate professional writing style? My policy and practice. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/62944857816/
Mellalieu, P. J. (2009). Writing to learn argument and persuasion: A “Trojan Horse” for promoting the adoption of “Writing Across the Curriculum” (WAC) principles. Presented at the Unitec Teaching and Learning Symposium, Auckland, NZ: Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1518834/
See also:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2001, October 11). Creating the A+ assignment: A project management approach (Revised). Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1518836/Creating_the_A_assignment_A_project_management_approach
Lim, M., & Mellalieu, P. (2013, November 18). Developing professional writing using the six trait rubric [video]. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/67325245170/developing-professional-writing-using-the-six
Anticipating this context, I constructed a prototype Decision Support System (ReXS) to provide my students the means to predict their personal academic success and final grade as they progressed through a first-year (freshman) course ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’. Data mining of previous semesters’ course results identified the crucial importance of a student's ability to write formal academic English as demonstrated in a written case study assignment. Several students’ immediate reaction to a presentation introducing them to ReXS was unexpectedly enthusiastic and they became ‘early adopter’ users. ‘Late adopter’ users of ReXS also gained confidence in identifying the degree of effort they needed to apply to complete the course succesfully through their Final Test.
Whilst ReXS is a bespoke solution tailored to the particular assessment regime of a particular course, I believe the principles of its design and construction can be applied to any assessed course in higher education. Certainly, my students indicated they would welcome widespread adoption of the approach in other courses in their study program. The presentation provides an opportunity to discuss: Reactions from the student users of ReXS; Illustrations of the predictions made by the ReXS; How the principles underlying the Decision Support System can be extended to other courses; Opportunities for improving the utility of ReXS for students, academic, and administrative staff. "
Citation:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2011). Predicting success, excellence, and retention from students’ early course performance: progress results from a data-mining-based decision support system in a first year tertiary education programme. In XXIX International Conference of the International Council for Higher Education (Vol. 24). Miami/Ft Lauderdale: International Council for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1572513/
Related:
Fernando, D. A. K., & Mellalieu, P. J. (2011). An evidence-based predictive model for motivating engagement, completion, and success in freshmen engineering students [Paper #151]. In Developing Engineers for Social Justice: Community Involvement, Ethics & Sustainability (pp. 312–318). Perth: Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.aaee.com.au/conferences/2011/papers/index.html#F
Fernando, D. A. K., & Mellalieu, P. J. (2012). Effectiveness of an evidence-based predictive model for motivating success in freshmen engineering students [Paper 95]. In The Profession of Engineering Education: Advancing Teaching, Research and Careers. Melbourne, Australia: Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.aaee.com.au/conferences/2012/documents/abstracts/aaee2012-submission-95.pdf
"
A tool based on these principles has already been accepted and used enthusiastically by some students in another department at Unitec Institute of Technology (Mellalieu, 2011). Inspired by the success of this approach, we have conducted a data mining analysis of previous students’ class attendance and assessment performance records to develop a similar tool for a freshman course within an undergraduate engineering technology programme at the same institution. The model underpinning the tool demonstrates empirically that better attendance in lectures and higher performance in interim summative assessments leads to higher final examination results. Furthermore, the tool enables the lecturer to achieve early detection of ‘at risk’ and struggling students who may not achieve successful course completion without a significant intervention by the teacher, and/or change in behaviour by the student. At Unitec, a conscious effort is made to attract to engineering education students from communities whose representation hitherto has been low. Identifying and following up those who may be experiencing difficulties is crucial for their retention.
All New Zealand tertiary institutes are now increasing their focus on successful completions (output) rather than the number of enrolments (input); the tool described is one useful approach to providing necessary and timely additional support to students at risk of failing to complete.
Citation:
Fernando, D. A. K., & Mellalieu, P. J. (2011). An evidence-based predictive model for motivating engagement, completion, and success in freshmen engineering students [Paper #151]. In Developing Engineers for Social Justice: Community Involvement, Ethics & Sustainability (pp. 312–318). Perth: Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.aaee.com.au/conferences/2011/papers/index.html#F
See also related:
Fernando, D. A. K., & Mellalieu, P. J. (2012). Effectiveness of an evidence-based predictive model for motivating success in freshmen engineering students [Paper 95]. In The Profession of Engineering Education: Advancing Teaching, Research and Careers. Melbourne, Australia: Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.aaee.com.au/conferences/2012/documents/abstracts/aaee2012-submission-95.pdf
Mellalieu, P. J. (2011). Predicting success, excellence, and retention from students’ early course performance: progress results from a data-mining-based decision support system in a first year tertiary education programme. In XXIX International Conference of the International Council for Higher Education (Vol. 24). Miami/Ft Lauderdale: International Council for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1572513/
The techniques were deployed within one specific course - organisational behaviour - in a class where students had little affection for formal writing tasks. Furthermore, the institution had no commitment towards implementing a formal WAC programme, and the teacher/researcher had no formal education in language teaching. Consequently, the study presents results of a 'pathfinder' study aimed at probing the extent to which WAC principles might be of value in achieving the learning outcomes sought by the business school.
An orchestrated sequence of interventions included the adoption of five-paragraph essay writing, Halswell’s Minimal Marking (1983), peer critiques, and McAlpine’s Global English (1997) as a style guide. A Small Group Instructional Diagnostic (SGID) conducted at the conclusion of the formal teaching sessions identified the reasons why most students valued the interventions as contributing to important developments in their academic literacy.
Carroll (2005) argues that ‘teachers themselves remain the most significant facilitator of students’ adjustments to studying in English’. Accordingly, the investigation presents practical strategies that can be implemented by a motivated teacher in a variety of courses - irrespective of course content - in a manner which minimises risk to both student and teacher, and do not require extensive language teaching skills on the part of the teacher.
What is outdoor adventure learning?
Does outdoor learning have a role to play in university-based business education programmes?
How do you teach educators who wish to use the methods of outdoor experiential education?
The project explored the nature and value of outdoor adventure learning in a university context. The two-day programme aimed to be a challenging, affordable, safe, and fun way to develop participants’ leadership, communication, and team working skills. The participants were university students enrolled in undergraduate business studies and sports programmes. Activities included a cave rescue, mountain biking, orienteering, rock climbing, and dragon boating.
Participants reported that their main aims in attending the programme were to learn new skills, participate in new activities, and meet new people. These aims were strongly met for most participants.
As a basis for designing future programmes, we sought to identify which of the course designers’ learning outcomes were achieved by which activity. We were surprised to find that the participants considered that different objectives were reinforced by a particular activity. Further, each participant noted that many objectives were achieved by a particular activity. From this feedback, we wondered if it was possible to design adventure learning programmes that would achieve specific, targeted learning outcomes. We came to understand this anomalous situation from the writings of educators Boud, Cohen, and Walker (1983). These authors note that “learning always relates ... to what has gone before. There is never a clean slate upon which to begin.... Earlier experiences - which had positive or negative affect - stimulate or suppress new learning.” (p. 8). We realised that in a given activity - such as a cave rescue - each student took different roles - leader, team worker, observer - and that they thereby learned something difference as a consequence of that role.
Follow-up discussions with participants led to the design of a for-credit academic course, the Action Learning Management Practicum. The course provides participants with the knowledge and skills to design, develop, and execute their own experiential-based programmes utilising outdoor adventure, role play, and action learning pedagogies.
The full article covers these topics:
•A new era in management education
•Adventure learning: A role in management education?
•Designing the pilot action learning practicum
•Delivering the pilot programme
Subsequent developments are discussed here:
Leberman, S., & Mellalieu, P. J. (1996). ALP-DevCo and the Action Learning Programme: A Trojan Horse for Moving from Mystery to Mastery [Training educators to use experiential education using an isomorphically-framed training-products development company]. Presented at the Action Learning, Action Research & Process Management Professional Conference, (ALARPM), University of Queensland, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://web.mac.com/petermellalieu/Teacher/Examples/Entries/2007/10/8_Training_educators_to_use_experiential_education_using_an_isomorphically-framed_training-products_development_company.html
Mellalieu, P. J. (1998). Weaving the threads of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial learning through a university-located reality-TV and master class: Enterprise MasterWorks (EMW)™. International Conference on Higher Education and Small/Medium Enterprise (SMEs). Presented at the International Conference on Higher Education and Small/Medium Enterprise (SMEs), Rennes, France: Centre Études et Recherche EURO PME, Rennes International School of Business. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/emw1998
Mellalieu, P. J. (1998). Beyond the Case Method: A Master Class for Enterprise Development. Proceedings of the Annual Educators Conference of the New Zealand Strategic Management Society, 6th Annual Conference. The University of Auckland N.Z.: New Zealand Strategic Management Society. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1571134/Beyond_the_Case_Method_A_Master_Class_for_Enterprise_Development
•Learning form the pilot action learning practicum
•The action learning management practicum: A for-credit academic course
•Conclusions and future directions.
Related:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2008). Writing to learn argument and persuasion: A “Trojan Horse” for promoting the adoption of “Writing Across the Curriculum” (WAC) principles (Working paper). Auckland, NZ: Unitec New Zealand Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from http://web.me.com/petermellalieu/Teacher/Blog/Entries/2009/9/30_Slide_show__Writing_to_learn_argument_and_persuasion.html
Mellalieu, P. J. (2007, July 6). The Massey Writing Across the Curriculum Model: A manifesto for the renaissance of an international business school? Peter Mellalieu - Teacher. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://preview.tinyurl.com/masseywac
In 2010, a pilot initiative was undertaken to extend strengths-based education within the business school for every student as part of a first-year compulsory undergraduate course in innovation and entrepreneurship. Specifically, each student was required to complete the academic requirements for the course through developing a professional learning agenda portfolio (PLA). The PLA assignment guides the student to identify, confirm, and build on their natural strengths through constructing a vision for their desired career in 2020. Furthermore, students elaborate on their career vision through identifying the short and medium term professional development steps they require to undertake. Their action plan includes identifying WHAT formal educational classes they will study, and - significantly - HOW they will approach their learning of their chosen courses.
All students in the class undertook the Gallup-Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 instrument as a key foundation for identifying their natural habits of thinking, emotional strengths, and inter/intra-personal disposition. A creative, enterprising assignment extending over the 12-week course provided one basis for students deploying their identified strengths to best effect within the context of a team project.
Note:
The link to the article includes an audio recording of the seminar.