McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers

by Wilbert J. McKeachie

To evaluate individual contributions to the group, I ask group members to simply describe the work contributed by other members without assessing its value. This allows them to be nonjudgmental, leaving the judgment calls up to me. Group members’ descriptions of each member’s contribution can be compared to get a more accurate picture of what each individual contributed. Other instructors have students distribute points according to the amount each student has contributed to the group’s work. I find, however, that most students have difficulty offering any assessment other than reporting each person as doing an equal amount.