Case Study: Dividing Grades Amongst Students
Stephen Teo, School of Management
Human Resource Management is the only subject in which undergraduate Business students are likely to develop a functional understanding of the various components of human resource management. The students work through a series of modules in groups to make a decisions on how they would implement a HRM strategy. At the beginning of the semester all students are given a full package of modules along with a subject outline that informs them that the group work is assessed through peer evaluation. The subject outline provides the criteria on which they will evaluate each other, including effort, quantity of contribution, quality of contribution, meeting of deadlines, and the degree of cooperation with other group members.
The criteria form the basis for the peer assessment form, which students submit confidentially along with their modules at three different times throughout the semester. They then receive feedback on how to improve their group?s performance so that by the end of the semester all groups should have high level performance. Students are expected to have the maturity to resolve any problems they have in the groups themselves rather than coming to lecturer. The lecturer only intervenes as a last resort when the group problems are acute and can only be resolved by bringing the students in to work out their problems.
When all the modules have been submitted at the end of the semester the group receives an overall grade for their work. In the final peer evaluation for subject, group members follow the steps outlined in the subject guide to distribute 100 points within the group so that each group member receives a percentage of the points based on their contribution to the group work. This is used to calculate the individual component of the student?s final grade. For example, a group receives a mark of 75% but based on the peer group evaluation of a students performance is only 85% of the total effort, then that student would receive a grade 85% of the 75% (64%). The final grade they receive in the final exam is comprised of the individual?s formal exam mark plus the individual grade of the workbook modules.