Two approaches to assessing interactions in cooperative work: From PISA monitoring studies to activity-based analysis of collaboration in project teams

Abstract

In the article the evaluation of interactions in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is compared with the evaluation of cooperation on the basis of activity approach. The authors argue that in PISA, the problem and the interactions between those working on it are two separate subject matters of analysis, whereas in activity-based research on cooperation, cognitive and social components of problem solving in joint activity form one single reality for the participants of group work, with specific semantic, operational and subject attributes. Using the activity approach, the authors define the principles of monitoring and assessing abilities of the project team members in the process of team work. It is argued that the key integral construct that should be monitored in the process of team work is the design concept, its specification and the role it plays in the transformation of team activity. Assessing the development of abilities in the activity of project teams must as well be based on the typology of project teams.