Tokens in group work

Group Work in graded situations (ie classrooms) has many challenges.

Problem for group work in class rooms.

One of the main challenges is non-participatory group members. This can lead to low-quality work and deflated group morale.

Historically, some common solutions are:

• Let students grade each other. This can work, but can fall into a space where students either all agree to give each other perfect marks, or a student can feel targeted (whether valid or not), and is difficult to ensure that it remains rational.
• Some parts of the work are individually marked. This works if the assignment can accommodate this, but many assignments require parts from all students to be complete, so one part left out could have a major impact on the full work.

New Solution:

The idea I'm proposing is tokens as a graded component.

Assign each student a number of tokens. They can, within their group, give the tokens to another group member as they see fit, with reason. Marks are assigned based on tokens received and held. There is flexibility here to apply as best fits the underlying structure.

Example:

A group of 5 people. Each person receives 3 tokens.

During the completion of the work, A recognizes that B produced a great slide that really illustrates the core idea well, and wants to reward the work, so A gives B a token, with the note "great core slide!". C also recognizes this and also gives B a token with a similar note.  Later, B notices that that D wisely made a backup, and gives them a token, again, with a note.

When marking, a portion of the group grade is based on the tokens. Each token received counts as an additional 2%, and each token given counts as 1%. Held tokens are worth 0.

In this example, A and C each receive an additional 1% (each gives 1 token), D receives 2% (1 token received), and B receives 5% (2 tokens received, 1 given).

Impact:

• Students are more inclined to participate and be involved.
• The incentive is positive, not negative.
• It is difficult to target a group member negatively.
• Each token is logged and noted, so giving is not arbitrary and is auditable.
• As held tokens are not worth anything, there is incentive to look for positive accomplishments and achievements within the group.
• Still possible for all group members to just share tokens evenly, but as requires some justification, less likely.

What do you think? Let me know!