April 25, 2019

Specs Grading for Groupwork - the challenge

For the module that I’m planning to introduce specs grading there will be a significant amount of groupwork. I’ve always considered assessment of group work as a necessary evil in my teaching. I’ve never found a satisfactory way to provide the necessary experience of the good, bad and ugly of working in a group, both encouraging collaboration and rewarding individual achievements. Will specs grading help or hinder?

I’ve found very little on the subject discussed on the internet. There’s a short discussion here without any clear takeaways.

I feel that it should be possible. Even when students are working in groups we still want to assess them as individual, even if what we’re assessing is their ability to collaborate. Perhaps a set of individual assignments which assess ILOs along the lines as “being a team member”, “leading the team”, “reflecting on my performance as a team member” are possible. A challenge is ensuring that students still get a realistic experience of working in a team and feeling the responsibility to complete the project together.

© Richard Craggs 2019

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