Assessing Group Assignments

Engaging students in learning through group projects has become a more common practice in recent years, often because they are seen to assist students in developing generic skills such as teamwork and interpersonal skills in addition to acquiring the skills and knowledge of the discipline. However, assessing group work is often problematic, as it is sometimes the case that certain students do not ‘pull their weight’. This is often seen as unfair by the students doing more than their share of the work, and it also means that some students may be assessed as having acquired skills and knowledge that they have not.

Below are some strategies for marking group assignments that might deal with these issues.

• Shared Group Mark: The group is given a mark, which is multiplied by the number of students in the group (e.g. a mark of 20 for a group of 5 students would give a total of 100 marks). Students divide up the mark themselves according to the amount of work each has done. It is helpful at the outset of the assignment to provide criteria for establishing how students are to divide up the marks at the end, or to involve the students in establishing the criteria (Gibbs et al., 1988).
• Peer and Teacher Assessment: The teacher assesses the group project and assigns an overall mark. Students then assess the contribution of each other using criteria established at the beginning of the assignment. A limiting factor in the peer assessment is that the average of the peer-assessed individual marks cannot exceed the group mark given by the teacher. Each individual’s final mark is a combination of the group mark and the peer mark (Gibbs, 1992).
• Individual Tasks and Group Mark: The group assignment is divided by the teacher into separate components of equal weight, or students are asked to do this themselves. Responsibilities for particular tasks are then allocated by the teacher or negotiated by students. Individual contributions are marked separately by the teacher. An overall group mark is given by the teacher, which is combined with each individual’s mark to give a final mark for each student. In addition, students can be asked to assess the contribution of their fellow students; the ‘peer’ mark could then be used to adjust the teacher’s mark a small amount up or down (Gibbs, 1992).
• Student Involvement in Assessment: A base mark is given by the teacher for the group project. In addition, students are asked not to assess each other, but only to take turns noting attendance and contributions to the project at regular intervals. This information is then used by the teacher to moderate the base group mark for individuals. (Hounsell et al., 1996).

Whatever the extent of student involvement in assessing group assignments, the lecturer has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the marks are appropriately allocated.

• Gibbs, G. (1992). Independent Learning with More Students. Oxford: The Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council.
• Gibbs, G., Habeshaw, S. & Habeshaw, T. (1988). 53 Interesting Ways to Assess Your Students (2nd ed.). Bristol: Technical and Educational Services.
• Hounsell, D., McCulloch, M. & Scott, M. (Eds.). (1996). The ASSHE Inventory: Changing Assessment Practices in Scottish Higher Education. Edinburgh: Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, The University of Edinburgh and Napier University.