Group Work

Collaboration is encouraged at university as a useful way to learn, but students have difficulty identifying where collaboration stops and collusion begins. USQ Academic Regulation Section 5.1(PDF*) defines plagiarism, cheating and collusion.

To avoid this confusion you are encouraged to provide students with further information on:

• how individual work will be identified
• the assessment criteria
• how students will identify shared work.

If students work in formal groups their confusion about collaboration and collusion can be alleviated by being specific about:

• the criteria for the group and/or individual product and processes
• how you intend to measure individual contributions to the group
• how you allocate the grades between individuals in the group.

Other resources to assist manage group work include:

• Minimising Plagiarism (AUTC, Australia).
• Assessing Group Work (UTS, Australia).
• Isaacs, Geoff (2002). Assessing Group Tasks (PDF*), Teaching and Educational Development Institute, University of Queensland, Australia.
• Apple, J. & Appleton, J. (2001) Plagiarism - A Good Practice Guide (PDF*). Joint Information Systems Committee. Oxford Brookes University, UK.
• Group Work Assessment within the ICS Disciplines (LTSN, UK).