Self- And Peer-Assessment To Enhance Student Engagement In Undergraduate Group Projects

Group projects are an important part of undergraduate computer science learning because of their role in developing working skills which are vital for professionals in the computing industry. While group projects offer many potential learning benefits there is no guarantee that the development of working skills will be achieved. In fact, group projects introduce their own stresses and strains for students due to the need to share the workload as fairly as possible, in how individual contributions are measured and recognised, the effect this has on individual performance, and ultimately how this contributes to the student’s success in the course. Group projects which are not designed, supervised and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and collaboration can lead to failure. In this paper we demonstrate practical use of the WebPA system to allow students to perform self- and peer-assessment to effectively measure individual contributions within group projects. The impact of the tools in supporting and measuring performance is validated through quantitative student feedback where we demonstrate significant student engagement in the assessment process and student satisfaction in mark allocation.