Is the current degree classification no longer fit for purpose?

[basshedz2 10]

I go into a lot of different lectures and seminars for my job and I was interested to hear that in the group work for one session I was in, the students had to rate each other on their contributions. This was a big part of the reflective side of their group work. I think they did get a group mark in the end though.

 

In my undergraduate degree we had a group project and the group got a final mark. We then had to divvy that mark up between the 5 or 6 people in the group.

 

Surprisingly this worked really well - what generally happened is that nobody got a "fail" mark, but the people who put the most effort in did generally receive the highest mark in the group.

 

Oh, and the abolition of any kind of assessed group work contributing to final marks would help too. I worked my ass off to carry several people last year and I resent having to do it just for me to retain my good grades.

 

Rant over.

 

To be honest - you should have reported this to your tutor or the lecturer supervising the module at the earliest stage possible. I am currently a lecturer in the HE sector and that is what we're there for! Current best practice in HE (so I am reliably informed ...) is to let the group dynamics take care of the people who "coast" along in group work - as should happen in the "real-world". If you'd reported it early on then the lecturer would have been able to have a quiet word and then would keep an eye out. If the problem had persisted then thet would have been able to intervene.

[basshedz2 10]

No, it should just be made more discriminatory to give it meaning again. The indiscriminate handing out of Firsts and 2:1s has devalued them. Perhaps they should be allocated by percentage so the top 5% get a First, next 10% a 2:1 and so on.

 

The fundamental problem with saying "the top 5% get 1sts", etc. is that there is therefore no consistancy between years.

 

I'm also unsure that this happens - does it? Certainly when I did my degree there were only a few people that got firsts, more that got 2:1s, and most got 2:2s. I think you did have to fair quite badly to get a 3rd though.

 

What are other people's experiences? Did most people in your year get 2:1s or 1sts?

[*carrie* 10]

I go into a lot of different lectures and seminars for my job and I was interested to hear that in the group work for one session I was in, the students had to rate each other on their contributions. This was a big part of the reflective side of their group work. I think they did get a group mark in the end though.

 

Some do and some don't go with the marking each other thing.... even for the projects that do, it is never really representative because most people mark everyone similarly for fear of being accused of not working well enough as a group.

 

I think most good students dislike assessed group work and it says a lot that the people who seem to love it are the ones incapable or too lazy to manage it alone.

[*carrie* 10]

In my undergraduate degree we had a group project and the group got a final mark. We then had to divvy that mark up between the 5 or 6 people in the group.

 

Surprisingly this worked really well - what generally happened is that nobody got a "fail" mark, but the people who put the most effort in did generally receive the highest mark in the group.

 

 

 

To be honest - you should have reported this to your tutor or the lecturer supervising the module at the earliest stage possible. I am currently a lecturer in the HE sector and that is what we're there for! Current best practice in HE (so I am reliably informed ...) is to let the group dynamics take care of the people who "coast" along in group work - as should happen in the "real-world". If you'd reported it early on then the lecturer would have been able to have a quiet word and then would keep an eye out. If the problem had persisted then thet would have been able to intervene.

 

Oh I had spoken with tutors about this and discussed it in great length with them. The problem comes when there is one student upset/complaining at shouldering the group effort and the others in denial of there being a problem. At the end of the day, they arent there when you do the work and so they can't say who has done what. I spoke with tutors very early and as i get on with my tutors even now i've left, they knew the type of person i am compared with others in the class and still there was very little they can do.

 

My view is that my degree ought to be 100% mine and shouldnt reflect anyone else's work whatsover.

[Saff 10]

Some do and some don't go with the marking each other thing.... even for the projects that do, it is never really representative because most people mark everyone similarly for fear of being accused of not working well enough as a group.

 

I think most good students dislike assessed group work and it says a lot that the people who seem to love it are the ones incapable or too lazy to manage it alone.

 

I can see the merits of group work but maybe it shouldn't be included in the final mark. We had to do a group thing in my degree (about 12 years ago) but the product was a presentation which I was dreadful at because I was terrified. I know what you mean though, I can remember we were meant to go off and discuss something we'd prepared one time and I'd written all mine down and read it to the rest of the group really scared and then they all started talking about something else anyway as there was no tutor around.