Foiling the free riders: early experience with compulsory peer assessment at an online business school

Getting students to work in teams is a tried and tested mechanism for promoting active learning (Kadel & Keehner 1994). Team work, and the ability to work in teams, is also becoming increasingly valued in the world of business and commerce (Senge 1990). The question is: to what extent should assessment be tied to the collaborative efforts of teams? Generally speaking, opinion seems to be divided among those students who hate it and those who think it is extremely valuable. Those who find it a chore invariably complain about difficult personalities and those who ‘free ride’ off the efforts of others. This, of course, is no different to life in the real world and one might argue, therefore, that it is an authentic learning experience! A counter-argument is that, in the real world, there is also likely to be a reporting system within an organisation whereby the difficult and the lazy people are prevented from prospering beyond the short term. This paper reports on the first 12 months’ experience of a compulsory peer assessment system that represents a modest attempt to install such a reporting system, with the goal of calling the free-riders to account. It details the implementation process, teething problems, successes to date, and future research plans.