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A key challenge for management instructors using graded groupwork with students is to find ways to maximize student learning from group projects while ensuring fair and accurate assessment methods. This article presents the Groupwork Peer-Evaluation Protocol (GPEP) that enables the assessment of individual contributions to graded student groupwork. The GPEP is designed to achieve the three objectives of providing accurate and fair assessment, supporting student learning, and enabling group self-management. This article discusses instructor experiences with and student reactions to the protocol, opportunities for customization, and potential limitations of the protocol.
Keywords: peer evaluation; groupwork; individual contribution; assessment; fairness
Teamwork and group projects are ubiquitous in management education because they enhance the development of skills and knowledge particularly relevant to the real world, provide an excellent forum for experiential learning, promote collaborative learning, and help to more efficiently instruct large student numbers. Beyond the pragmatic advantages to instructors of large classes, the learning benefits include the provision of opportunities to apply conceptual skills and theoretical knowledge; to experience and learn about group dynamics; to include tasks and activities more directly relevant to professional practice; to broaden exposure to different views and ideas; to increase familiarization with different perspectives and problem-solving approaches; to develop and extend interpersonal and social skills such as collaboration and networking; to work on larger, more comprehensive assignments individuals would not be able to cope with; to increase student motivation and engagement; and generally to promote students' learning from each other (e.g., Abelson & Babcock, 1985; Boyer, Weiner, & Diamond, 1984; Mello, 1993; Michaelsen, Watson, Cragin, & Fink, 1982; D. L. Williams, Beard, & Rymer, 1991).
Although the promise of groupwork as an instructional tool is rarely disputed, its use often brings about problems that limit and even negate potential benefits. Specifically, the difficulties associated with accurately and fairly assessing individual performance, conflict within work groups, and free riding of individual members are frequently cited problems associated with groupwork (e.g., Abelson & Babcock, 1985; Abson, 1994; Falchikov, 1988; Magin, 2001; Mello, 1993; D. L. Williams et al., 1991). These educator concerns are mirrored by students who are, among operational problems (e.g., timing, work load), particularly concerned about groupwork because of mistrust in the other group members' commitment to joint tasks, and...