Evaluating Individual Effort While Working with a Group
Students are evaluated as individuals when performing MA challenges, as well, when they have a project that is due at the end of each Mod. They are given a point system.
How do you evaluate individual members of student groups?
For each student, the effort put into the group individually is monitored. I do not always listen to the feedback from group members, but observe the effort put by individuals in the group work.
I like that idea, I will try it.
I like 360-feedback approach. I observe the level of participation and engagement of the team members. Implementating a regular team log to capture individual participation helps to know how this team is working together. Finally, observation is vital. It is more difficult to do in an online setting though.
I believe asking each individual to write 3 0r 4 sentences on what they contributed to the group for the day.
I will them read them back to the class corresponging to that particular group. However, I will NOT mention the students names.
I believe this keeps everyone in check when they go back to their groups.
They need to get an individual grade and a group grade. Each member is graded on their own merrit. Some students won't put in the effort expecting the group to carry them but if they score a 0 on individual participation then they won't be carried by the group grade.
Having experienced this in college myself, so I am very conscious of the group dynamic. Do you use a rubric or some other method of monitoring?
In any group setting you may have the problems of social loafing or those that just do not work well in teams. Since we are imparting "real world" knowledge to our students, I convey the importance of learning to work in teams while they are in my class since this is experiential learning that translates directly to the workplace. The assignment itself has to contain at least one benchmark that shows individual performance - such as a specifically assigned task. This is the best way to reduce social loafing.
I am a firm believer that a group project should be broken down into several parts. Each student should have a specific part to complete. The student should be graded on his/her performance on his/her portion of the assignment. Each portion of the assignment should have an appropriate grading rubric. This avoids the age old student complaint of a group member failing to pull his/her weight.
How can I make sure there is an equality of work distribution? I always hate it when I was in school groups and me and another member do all the work and the rest just slide by.
I don't often have cause to use groups, but when I do I find that using students' own perceptions of how they participated, their self-evaluation, much more equitable. And this aids in maintaining a sense of fairness and objectivity within the class
I evaluate individual members of a student group by assigning each student a task. I also assignment a group portion of a project along with an individual presentation.
When I have students work in groups, I always thry to make sure that I include criteria that will evaluate both group and individual performance. This way, the would be loafer will be responsible for his or her own work, and well as participating in the team's portion. I may have them submit a group paper and an individual paper, and average the two grades.
I also try to make calssroom observations to see who is participating in group discussions and who is just sitting back. I remind them that I expect everyone to participate. All and all however, I think that team members are very good at making sure the division of labor is fair, and when it is not, they will report it to the instructor.
When doing group projects, each student has a certain part of the project that has to be done and presented and when everyone has presented their part then the presentation is complete.
If someone is absent on that day or forgot and left their part of the presentation at home then they receive a grade of (0). No matter how much time they spent on the project.
Students should evaluate their own individual efforts within the group with grade as a group limited to 25% to 35% of course grade. All members of group should get same grade. Instructor should observe groups to insure that all students participation is relatively the same. Do not assign projects to groups unless a reasonable answer is attainable.
I tell them on the first day they are graded on 2 parts, performance and administrative. Performance is what I observe them doing, and that should ALWAYS be involved with what the group is doing. The second is administrative and that if something is left blank, it is automatically wrong.
I asssign group work for special projects. Every one is responsible for each section. Usually the students have to do a presentation. According to their performance I grade them. In real job cooperation is very important.
Each member is appointed a specific task. The group is evaluated as a whole for the project grade but each students contribution is evaluated individually for their personal class participation grade...
I evaluate groups by monitoring them and listening to their internal discussions carefully. I can assess who's strong and who's weak, and what their specific strengths and weakness are. It definitely helps me assess where each individual is, in terms of development and helps me help those who need it the most very effectively.
