Group Marking – Are we being fair? What are the issues? How do we tackle them?

Assessment of group work can play a major part in the learning process of students and is an important component of Active Blended Learning (ABL). However, it can also be a concern for many academics and students. Research conducted by a recent (2017-18) URBAN project in one subject area revealed that one of the concerns is about ensuring that the marking/scoring method is potentially fair and consistent. Some modules give the same mark/grade to each member within a group irrespective of each member’s contribution/co-operation. Other modules incorporate a peer assessment component within rubrics that involves each member assessing other members’ contributions. Problems can arise with peer assessment if students feel that they are being marked subjectively by their peers, for example if one person falls out with the group but still does his/her part of the overall work.

A learning enhancement and innovation bid submitted to address the above issues has been successful. The successful project/bid is titled:

Implementation of a fair group marking, and student scoring scheme based upon separate product and process assessment responsibilities

We have begun work on this project and aim to provide updates/progress of this project on this blog.