Peer evaluation within a team design project

To function successfully in a global economy, new engineering and technology graduates must know how to work within team environments. However, group projects, unless properly managed, can lead to an unfair balance of workload within teams, possibility due to social loafing. It has been found that team members who feel they are being individually evaluated within projects tend to exert more effort. This paper describes a team project within a freshman level engineering design project and details the utilization of a peer evaluation instrument to evaluate the contribution of individual team members. Results show that a peer evaluation instrument can improve team effectiveness.