An exploration into the use of the digital platform Slack to mediate group assessments and provide assessment support [Working paper]

Assessment and feedback is consistently highlighted as an area where students feel that Higher Education Institutions (HEI) could improve and regularly scores the lowest of the key criteria for student satisfaction (Grove, 2014). Furthermore, group assessment, where students not only need to learn what is required in the assessment; but also need the social skills required to work collaboratively (Reiser, 2017) can create additional challenges. The majority of university students have grown up as digital natives, with 81% of students reporting use of mobile devices whilst studying (Al-Emran, Elsherif & Shaalan, 2015). There is a requirement to consider more brave and innovative technological approaches to supporting students. This working paper explores whether adopting an industry tool called Slack, a CMC platform, can be an effective tool in group assessments. More specifically, can Slack facilitate an innovative and collaborative group learning community for mediating and supporting group assessments amongst level 5 undergraduate marketing students. The study will adopt a process of qualitative inquiry to reach meaningful results around student and academics’ engagement with Slack. Data will be collected by adopting a multi-method approach using six focus groups of 8-10 students and two semi-structured individual interviews with members of the teaching team.