Mark Maximising in a Context of Uncertain Contribution: a Grounded Theory in Progress

Abstract

Graduates in the United Kingdom are expected to possess professional skills fitting them for a successful transition to paid work. Employers tend to value student attributes such as communication skills, initiative and the ability to work well with others. Assessed group work at university has been seen as a way of promoting these skills and qualities, however it is not always popular with students, who can experience problems when working together.

This practical study is intended to better understand ‘what is going on’ (Glaser, 1998, p.5) for students in order to inform practice. The substantive population comprises computing students and the substantive area of interest is assessed group work where marks contribute to the classification of the final higher educational award. The analysis to date has produced the shape of a grounded theory but further work is required to understand more about the students’ behaviours and we plan to continue the study from October, 2017 to both update and densify the study. A literature review has yet to be conducted, and, as is consistent with the grounded theory method, will be conducted once we are secure in our updated theory.