Investigating an Equitable Approach to Individualising Grades for Wiki-focused Project-based Learning in an English for Academic Purposes Context

Abstract

Project-based learning has enduring concerns with an individual contributor’s grade allocation. An individual’s final grade can be attained through whole group product assessment, individualised contribution assessment, or a combination of the two. Assessment can be achieved through external (teacher) product evaluation, internal (participant) process evaluation, or a combination of the two. If combination assessment is used, weighting of each element becomes an addressable issue. If a project utilises digital technologies, with a wiki being the predominant output format, the inherent software adds a further dimension to the assessment process. When the project is conducted by English language learners preparing for English-medium undergraduate studies, assessment becomes both linguistic and topic-focused. A limited two-cycle action research study was conducted at an English medium international university to investigate assessment methods utilising external and internal evaluations, on which the design of an assessment framework could be based. Results from this study include a design approach to the allocation of individual grades, with an informed discussion of group assessment, including free-rider issues, co-created assessment, and score weightage.