Making anthropology relevant: Collaborative assessment in support of graduate and undergraduate success beyond the university

Abstract

While team-based and interdisciplinary research is increasingly common for anthropologists and other researchers, pedagogical strategies for integrating hands-on training in this area is underexplored. As anthropologists reflect on how to prepare the next generation of researchers, this article addresses a strategy for designing and assessing undergraduate assignments that provides undergraduate and graduate students experiences that are transferable to interdisciplinary and team-based projects. I argue that a collaborative assessment approach to undergraduate applied anthropology assignments based on a model for developing team-based codebooks by MacQueen et al. (2008) can support graduate and undergraduate students in acquiring skills for their future careers. Drawing on several years of experience teaching medium-to-large enrolling introductory cultural anthropology courses, this article illustrates how a collaborative assessment approach offers graduate teaching assistants hands-on experience with navigating team-based projects and codebook development as well as supports undergraduate students in refining their critical thinking and writing skills interdisciplinarily.