Should the grading system be based solely on group work?

Question

In English class my teacher proposed this question. I am a little mixed on it, but I wanted to get peoples opinions on it. In your opinion, should the grading systeem be based solely on group work? You can include reasons if you want.

Thanks. :]

Answer 1

No, I don't think so. I think some of it should be based on group work because we all need to learn to work with other people, to share what we know with others, and to learn from others. However, many people do very good work independently and like to learn independently so there should be an avenue for that sort of evaluation as well. Do a search for Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory and you will find information to support not basing grading solely on group work.

Answer 2

No.

People have to be able to stand out on their own.

I've been in college classes where the entire grade is based on group projects, and even then there MUST be a way to grade the individual.

If people are graded solely on group work, people can slack off and make the rest of the group do the work. This drags down the group's performance (in just about every case), it lowers the teams morale, and it gives the poor performers a way to get through without being seen for what they are.

In all of the classes where something like that was done, the teacher would give a group report and evaluation to each member of the group. Part of the grade for the project was based on how the group evaluated the person and what effort they put into it. That way the slackers got punished for bad performance without hurting everyone else as much.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. While I'm a strong advocate of group work as a way of training people, I never make it more than a small portion of grading, because it is too easy for one problem student to either disrupt the work of the entire group or to become a "free-rider". I know that when I was in law school, I had to do a team project that the school had decreed would be group-graded as a major part of one of my classes. Grades count for everything in law school; generally your entire semester rides on one exam, paper, or presentation. Well, the person I worked with sabotaged the presentation so that not only did he mess up, but he kept me from presenting what I had prepared by cutting me off with his own ramblings. The professor actually had to advocate on my behalf with the person in charge of the whole program, and I am forever grateful to her. Yes, there are circumstances in the real world in which we are judged as part of a group, rather than individually, but we have more options in life than we do in school.