Group Projects: More Learning? Less Fair?: A Conundrum in Assessing Post-Graduate Business Education

Abstract

Group projects form a large and possibly growing component of the work undertaken for assessing students for post-graduate degrees in business. Yet the assessments sources, methods and purposes result in an array of combinations that the literature on assessment fails to capture in its full complexity. This paper builds on a new framework for discussing the assessment of group projects and reports on an exploratory piece of empirical research to examine the questions posed in the title: Is there more learning? The answer is a solid, if less than emphatic yes. Is it less fair? Probably, but what's the alternative?

Keywords: Group projects, group dynamics, group assessment, higher education, post-graduate assessment, fairness

JEL Classification: A20, A22, A23, D70, I20, M00