Grading a group project when one group member slacks off

Post date: 2021-05-08 07:31:58
Views: 90
I'm faced with a tricky, college-level grading issue: Two members of a three-person group claim that the third member barely did anything on a group project; that third member claims he contributed an appropriate one-third of the work. Per the assignment prompt, all members of a group are to receive the same grade. Teachers and ethicists: How would you handle this?

Perhaps it was foolish of me to say that everyone would get the same grade, but I counted on the students understanding that a rising tide lifts all boats. Most of them seem to have figured this out - even another guy, who barely submitted any other work this semester, made meaningful contributions to his group's project. I've used similar assignments for 20 years and have never had a case in which the students' assessments of each others' contributions were so divergent.

The three students (not their real names):
- David & Katrina: Consistently two of the best students in the class. Smart, creative, always contributing engaged comments and questions. Work always submitted on time, and fully.
- Greg: An indifferent student at best; has subtly trolled classmates a few times in online assignments; his work has been subpar throughout the semester. A recent submission was wildly off-topic; he has, here and there, looked for loopholes in submitting assignments. Some work has been late.

David and Katrina say that they have done the lion's share of the work on this project, and that Greg has either given excuses for not attending group meetings, or simply not shown up. They say that Greg did contribute an early version of the Powerpoint, but that it was incomplete and largely off-topic; they had to revise it almost entirely so that it addressed the questions of the prompt. Greg says they all made roughly equal contributions.

Not wanting this to "go to trial," I asked each student to give me, via private email, two numbers: the approximate percentage breakdown for how much work each person did, and the grades that they think they should each receive.

- David says he and Katrina completed 90-95% of the work, with Greg doing "perhaps 5%." He declined to suggest grades for each participant, but did request that Greg be graded separately if possible.
- Katrina says that she and David together did 75-80% of the work, with Greg doing 20-25%. She believes that she and David should each receive a grade of ~90 on the project, and that Greg should receive ~70.
- Greg says that they all did approximately their fair share: that each person did 33% of the work and that they should all receive a B/B-.

In the presentation portion of the project, Greg did almost nothing. He read, verbatim, the words on a single slide, and then clammed up; it was plain that David had to step in, on the spur of the moment, to pick up the slack that Greg dropped.

As you can probably tell, I am more inclined to believe David & Katrina than Greg. But this whole situation gives me a headache and I would like to find an elegant solution. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Number of Comments
Please click Here to read the full story.
 
Other Top and Latest Questions:
3 Body Problem: Countdown
I'd like to book my trip please...
I can't find the story
Personal tool tracking library
How to change the duration of "hotness" section
Delicious in Dungeon: Stewed Cabbage/Orcs
Hazbin Hotel: Hello Rosie
Tickets for Candidates Tournament
Dog personality changes on prednisone
Remind me of a verse, Beowulf edition