I feel this would be the most difficult as some students in the group might just want to get through the assignment even though an individual or two is/are not contributing their share.
I think effective planning can help you evaluate individual members, creating assignments that allow each student to contribute the same amount of work as other students.
If it's an in class group assignment, monitoring the groups can help you evaluate the group and the individuals. If it's a out of class group assignment, having the students turn in an individual portion and a group project can help. Also, using technology tools like an online discussion board can help. You can see how the students worked together on the DB (how often, who submitted what, etc.)
There are different ways to evaluate an individual group member. The important parts are to find what the student has learned, find out if the assignment helped and find a way to help them improve (and/or continue to grow as a student).
Carrie,
I agree, the peer evaluations typically don't create controversy.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
With some of my larger classes I have no choice because of time constraints to give them a group research/portfolio project. They are required to present their research project in a formal presentation at the end of the term. (I allow the students to choose their own group, but as the terms continue I am seeing the error of my ways with that one. I like the idea of random assignments.) In the grading rubric I use for the class presentations there is a 20% peer evaluation section. I find the students are very honest with grading there classmates. I have never had a student contest their grade based on what another classmate has turned in.
Suzelle,
these are both excellent ways for you as the instructor to check on the involvement of all the parties.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
To evaluate the individual effort while working with a group I always asked the leader of the group to provide to me the assignment given to each member of the group.During the group presentation in class every student has to talk about their own work.So all of them will participate in the project.
joyce,
this is very true & a good reason for providing grading criteria & rubrics prior to the process & project.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Individuals should be graded and/or evaluated consistently. It is important for students to realize there are guidelines on which grades are based.
Dennis,
this is a great illustration of the value of groups & their application to the work environment.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Most of my students go on to careers in law enforcement, so groups allow the students to experience working with people in situations where the mission or goal comes before group harmony. Students learn to adjust and adapt to the dynamics of the group.
Elizabeth,
there are definitely challenges, but I do like this approach & have used it myself. While the other students may have to still work harder, it at least shows them that there are consequences for their actions.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I am required to assign a final group project where I teach. I created one grading rubric for the written portion of the project, a grading rubric for the oral presentation portion, and an individual effort sheet that allows each individual group member to evaluate himself/herself as well as each other. After students complete the individual effort sheets and turn them in to me confidentially, I use them to determine if there were any "freeriders" in their groups. I make this determination based on the reports of students. More specifically, if there are three students in a group, and two out of the three students independently report that the third student did not do his or her share of the work, then only that student's grade will suffer, not the grade of the entire group. This has worked well over the years. I have encountered a few minor problems with using such a form. First, if one member of a group is not doing his/her share of the work, then the other group members have to do it to earn a good or better grade on the project than they otherwise might have earned. Also, if there are four students, or an even number of students, in a group, it can be difficult to determine any potential freeriders because two students might rate themselves and each other highly and the other two students might rate themselves highly but might rate the other two students low on the scale. Or only one student of the four might rate one other student low on the scale.
I have the students rate each member of the group, including themselves, anonymously. If a student receives a poor rating from two or more group members, that student's grade is lowered by a certain percentage. This has stopped the "freeloaders" who never contribute yet earn the same grade as those who work hard.
as long as the individual in the group knows what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated then everything should be a positive experience
I use a combination of peer review and instructor review. When introducing the group project, I try to assign each student a particular task, so they are held accountable for this portion. At the end of the project the students complete Peer Evaluation Forms. These are anonymous and each student rates the other students on several criteria including communication, and reliability. Students receive an average number of points based on the Peer Evaluation Form rating. Prior to completing these forms, we discuss constructive feedback, and how this can help the students grow as a professional.
Glenn,
this is a good idea as they get the benefit & learning from the group situation but also have individual accountability.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
my students work in 4 person groups for the lab portion of instruction. I have each student perform the lab outcome otherwise the strong person would do the task and others would just watch.
Kizzy,
this is a great strategy as it keeps the groups accountable & provides the structure for that.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I ask students to assign a group leader and I also provide an outline of the points for completing certing items within the group project. I inform the students that they will be evaluated for participation and I will gain feedback from the group leaders. They are not suprised when I ask for an update on their particpation ouside of class.
Gordon,
yes, this is a great point to make! Too often groups are used when I haven't prepared; when done well groups will require a lot of involvement on my part, but will be very beneficial to the students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
