Exploring Approaches to Assessing Student Teamwork in Undergraduate Computing Projects

Teamwork is increasingly prominent in computing education. At the tertiary level, educators use group projects to nurture professional skills and employability. However, there is considerable variance in how such collaborative work is assessed. Emphases can be placed on the process, output, or upon reflection—and even individual or collective performance. This often evokes student concerns and drives considerable discourse on grading student teams. Yet, the diversity of approaches in computing and how their varying aspects influence their reception is not well understood. Concerns about the parity and inclusivity of some methods, such as peer evaluation, permeate the literature. However, there are also intriguing opportunities which computing departments are well-placed to implement, such as versioning, tracking, and analytics. This working group will survey approaches to assessing student teamwork in undergraduate computing projects. The aim is to examine global perspectives using a multi-national, multi-institutional framework whilst considering some contextual dimensions. This intends to yield some contemporary assessment models, an evidence-informed comparison of their merits and drawbacks, and recommendations for assessment practice.