A survey sent out to an entire KU course which will remain anonymous showed 50% thought group assignments were unfair and even ruining grades, whilst the other 50% said it depended on certain individuals. Results showed that not one student valued group assignments.
Many courses across Kingston University feature group assignments to build skills like group collaboration, project management and industry understanding.
However, not all students believe they are a fair means of assessment.
A third-year cybersecurity student under pseudonym Harry, said that he was forced into being grouped with other late students after being late himself early last year.
“It was through no fault of my own, I admitted defeat and it ended up with me doing most of the work which added stress to my already busy schedule,” he said.
“I received a low grade; it was demoralising and completely ruined my university experience because I need good grades for my career plan after university.”
A recent student survey by YouGov found that over 2000 students thought university group work to be ‘unfair’ whereby grades are given collectively and counted as a part of an individual’s final grade.
University lecturers on The Student Room have attempted to justify group assignments to the public, saying that being assigned the groups provides a more accurate and realistic experience in the workplace.
At Kingston University however, it is become increasingly known that students think negatively when group assignments are put into practice. A third-year architecture student, who’s final grade consists of 50% grouped work, said: “When others in your group turn up to everything but don’t help with any work, it looks like they’ve contributed when actually you’ve been doing all the work for them.”
Criticisms have been made by students surrounding some lecturers past abilities to handle these dire situations created from group assignments. University lecturers were contacted surrounding this issue but provided no reply.
Harry continued: “I was actively reaching out to the peers in my group. On my first seminar I was running late and communicated this with my group and my lecturer took this lateness as a sign of unreliability and even after my efforts, removed me and placed me in a group of others who were late and weren’t invested in the assignment at all.”
Outside of the opportunity given to students to choose their own groups, the decision is often made by the academic staff as read on the Kingston University site, though it’s dependent on the course and the Assessment Board’s specifications.
