Evaluation of a web based software tool to assess individual contribution of group work

CATME is a free-to-use web-based survey (www.catme.org) that was developed to enableself- and peer-evaluation of individual contribution to group work. The project was designed to assess the effectiveness of CATME for use with full-time and part-time undergraduates in science in ITT Dublin. Students within classes were grouped together randomly in groups of three or four. Previous experience of group work evaluation had highlighted student and tutor difficulties in evaluating contribution to group work.The tutor sets up a survey for each group which asks questions under a range of categories including contribution to the workload and interaction with the rest of the group. On registering with CATME, a student fills out this survey. Based on the answers given, CATME generates a group adjustment factor for each individual which can be used to adjust assessment marks to reflect individual contribution. In addition, the tutor has access to comments made by students. CATME also highlights anomalous results where there is a high degree of intra-group disagreement in the evaluation figures. Evidence from narrative reflections and interviews suggested the CATME scores correctly indicated individual contribution to group effort. Poor usage levels by some groups indicated the necessity of making compliance mandatory. Initial results suggested full-time students were more reluctant to give a negative assessment of their peer group contributions than part-time students, suggesting a maturity-effect. This difference was however less evident in subsequent surveys. Improvements may be attributable to greater tutor awareness leading to better CATME-usage training.CATME was found to be a useful tool for the summative assessment of individual contribution to group work. Its potential for formative feedback was evident but not fully explored.