Collaborative Essay Testing: Just Try It!

ost professors who enjoy teach ing find that the experience sometimes is problematic when they begin assessing student work. The otherwise fine rapport established between instructor and students can be shattered, especially when tests are given. Many professors can identify with Grzelkowski's description of the testing atmosphere in her sociology class: neg ative energy . . . , fearful anticipation, uncertainty, [and] barely shrouded anger (1987, 27). We contend that the atmosphere can be changed by applying to testing the same type of collaboration that we seek in other assignments?and that increasingly is expected on the job in the 1990s. Today's workplace appears to be mov ing toward collaborative models that engage workers in problem solving. Engineering teams design and build structures; teachers collaborate in cur riculum development; and marketing designers work together to create adver tising campaigns. Fewer occupations than in the past require a person to work in isolation. In response, many university pro grams, especially in professional schools, now engage students in teamwork. Some