Competition, Grading, and Group Work: The Path to Cooperation

Abstract

Assigning group work in library science courses facilitates student learning about the role of competition and cooperation in management. Competition is embedded in American culture, but one way to succeed is to sabotage colleagues, which harms organizations by reducing overall performance. Thus, organizations should establish goals and evaluation measures that favor internal cooperation over competition. While libraries are less competitive than for-profit corporations, competition does not disappear. In library education, a grading system that overly encourages competition can hinder learning by making it reasonable for students to consider their colleagues as rivals. A structured group work assignment can give students valuable experience in working cooperatively to achieve goals. Group size and formation, the emergence of group leaders, and professor availability are important parts of the learning experience. One suggested innovation is to require a graded log to encourage full participation by all students and to force students to analyze group dynamics as preparation for their future careers.