Group Assessment Frequently Asked Questions

Contents

Getting started and general queries

Are project groups self-selected or allocated? Why?

Students will be allocated to a group of (approx.) 5 students for the project. Each group is assigned a lab facilitator who will meet with the group fortnightly to support team forming and project matters, and who will mark the project.

Project groups are randomly allocated. This method simulates real-world working environments where you’ll often collaborate with colleagues and clients you haven’t chosen. Random allocation also promotes fairness by ensuring that students who might struggle to form a group independently are included. Our aim is to foster diverse and inclusive teams, as working with diverse perspectives tends to lead to more nuanced understanding of the unit material.

When students choose their own groups, they often select friends or close acquaintances. While this can create a comfortable working environment, learning to communicate effectively with different working styles is crucial in real-world teams, and research shows that personal growth is best fostered when students go outside their comfort zone.

My team and I have difficulty finding a time when we can all meet – what can we do?

Groups are allocated based on the lab session you selected in CAS – so you can meet before, during, or after your lab session. Groups can meet online or face-to-face, but at least some face-to-face meetings are encouraged, and group members are expected to make themselves available during their timetabled lab sessions for discussion with their facilitator, if needed.

Any problems with group attendance should be raised in the first instance with your assigned facilitator, or with the unit coordinator by emailing .

We have been unable to make initial contact with a member of our group – what should we do?

If you have made attempts to contact a group member via their UWA email address, and have allowed several days for a response, but have not received a reply, then contact the unit coordinator promptly (by the end of the first week of the project / week 3 at the latest) on .

Assessment

Is individual contribution taken into account?

Yes, individual contributions are taken into account. Students are asked to quantify the contributions made by each team member, including themselves. A Contribution Factor (ranging from 0.0 to 1.2) is calculated based on these evaluations and is used to adjust the final project grade accordingly (with a maximum possible final grade of 100%).

It is a requirement that groups keep a record (updated weekly) tracking each member’s allocated tasks and contributions, and use a private Git repository to track version control. While these records are not submitted with the project, teaching staff may request to see them if any discrepancies arise during the grading process.

Can we ask for help from lab facilitators or other teaching staff?

Yes – your lab facilitator is there to help your group make progress throughout the project. We encourage you to discuss your approach, show your work in progress, and ask questions if your group is unsure whether it is heading in the right direction.

Teaching staff will usually not tell you exactly how to solve the project, nor will they “pre-mark” deliverables or tell you whether a particular solution is the best one. Instead, we will try to help you identify potential problems, clarify misunderstandings, and suggest productive directions for further work.

If your question is about the project brief and the answer would be useful to multiple groups, please post it on the discussion board on the Blackboard LMS. This helps ensure that any clarifications or additional guidance are available to the entire class. If you ask an individual staff member a question of general interest, they may ask you to post it on the discussion board instead.

Deliverable submission

Who submits project deliverables, and how?

Project deliverables are submitted electronically through Moodle.

Only one member of the group may submit a deliverable – they submit on behalf of the entire team. However, all group members remain responsible for ensuring that the submission was successful and that the correct files were submitted before the deadline.

We recommend including your group number in submitted filenames where practical, although this is not required.

What are the rules for late submissions and special considerations for the group project?

Groups must submit the project deliverables by their due date. Penalties will be applied to late submissions according to UWA policy. UWA’s assessment policy states that “In cases where a student who is part of a group assessment receives approval for an EVA application, the outcome must be considered in consultation with the unit coordinator.” For this project, in accordance with UWA’s assessment policy, the unit coordinator will, if required, provide an alternative assessment for an individual student and/or mark to a reduced assessment task for the group. Any questions about EVA or UAAPs can be discussed with the unit coordinator at consultation times or via email to .

Dealing with problems

Who should we contact if problems arise?

In the first instance, your lab facilitator is usually the best person to contact (in person, at your next timetabled lab session) if you run into problems. If the problem is urgent, feel free to contact the unit coordinator via email to .

I got sick during semester and couldn’t contribute for a while. What should I do?

Let your teammates know as soon as possible so they understand what is happening and can plan around your temporary absence.

You should also apply for an EVA (Exceptional Variation of Assessment) through the University’s normal process, even if you expect to recover quickly. This creates an official record of the circumstances.

An individual student’s illness does not automatically result in an extension for the entire group project. However, having your circumstances documented can be important if questions later arise about your level of contribution to the project.

My teammates want to ignore the required project processes (for example, not using version control or task tracking). Should I go along with this?

No – the project processes are part of the assessment and are intended to protect both the project and the students working on it. They provide evidence of who contributed what, help the group coordinate its work, and make it much easier to resolve disagreements if they occur. Experience in both industry and education shows they substantially reduce coordination problems and give better visibility of project progress.

If your group is reluctant to use them, discuss the reasons first. If you cannot reach agreement, discuss this with your lab facilitator as soon as possible. Raising the issue early gives us the best chance of helping the group before this becomes a larger problem.

I am doing all the work. What should I do?

Don’t do that!

One of the aims of this assessment is to work effectively as a team. If one student takes over all work on the project, that usually makes the situation worse rather than better.

You should first discuss the issue with your teammates and make expectations clear. If the problem continues, raise the issue with your lab facilitator as soon as possible.

It is important to do this early. The earlier we know there is a problem, the more options we have to help the group resolve it.

Also be aware that putting in more effort than the rest of the group is not guaranteed to result in higher marks. The Group Contribution Factor is capped at 1.2, meaning an individual can never achieve more than 20% over the group’s raw mark. Doing significantly more than an even share of the work is therefore unlikely to improve your final result.

My teammates are not contributing. Should I just finish the project myself?

No – while it can be tempting to complete the missing work yourself, doing so often hides the problem until the end of semester, when it is much harder for staff to help resolve the issues.

Instead, raise your concerns with the group, keep using the required project management tools, and raise this with your lab facilitator if the issue is still not resolved. Early communication gives us the best opportunity to help.

We’re having problems working together. When should we contact teaching staff?

As early as possible.

Many group problems can be resolved if we know about them while the project is still in progress. Once the project has been submitted, our ability to investigate events or help the group is much more limited.

If communication has broken down, required project processes are not being followed, or you believe the workload has become seriously unbalanced, please raise this with your lab facilitator promptly rather than waiting until the end of semester.

Our group disagrees about a technical decision. Who decides?

Disagreement is a normal part of software engineering.

Where possible, decisions should be based on evidence rather than opinion. This might involve referring back to the project specification, consulting reliable technical documentation, building a small prototype, or comparing alternative approaches against the project requirements.

If, after reasonable discussion, the group is still unable to reach agreement, ask your lab facilitator for advice. It is usually better to spend a few minutes getting guidance than several days arguing over a design decision.

A team member says they’ll do work, but never finishes it – what should we do?

Start by discussing the issue within the group rather than making assumptions about why work has not been completed. Sometimes expectations, deadlines, or the scope of a task have not been clearly communicated.

If missed deadlines become a pattern, document agreed tasks and due dates using your project tracking system, redistribute work where appropriate, and raise the issue with your facilitator or the unit coordinator as early as possible.

Don’t wait until the project has been submitted before telling us there has been a persistent problem! Early communication gives us a much better chance of helping the group resolve it.

Our project is falling behind. What should we do?

Don’t panic, and don’t wait until the submission deadline before asking for help.

Many projects fall behind at some point. What matters is recognising the problem early and taking steps to address it.

Start by identifying the highest-priority requirements in the project brief and make a realistic plan for what can still be completed to a good standard. It is usually better to submit a smaller amount of well-designed, well-tested work than a larger amount of incomplete or unreliable work.

Discuss the situation with your lab facilitator as soon as possible. They can help your group identify the major risks, suggest where effort is best spent, and help you develop a realistic plan for the remainder of the project.

If after this your group still has concerns about being able to complete the project successfully, contact the unit coordinator promptly. While we cannot reduce the assessment requirements, we can often help groups identify a sensible path forward. We would much rather know about problems while there is still time to improve the outcome than hear about them after the project has been submitted.

As with other group issues, early communication and evidence of an organised development process make it much easier for us to provide useful advice.

Communication

How quickly should group members reply to messages?

Every group should agree on communication expectations during the first week of the project.

We recommend acknowledging messages within about 24 hours during teaching weeks, even if you cannot provide a complete answer immediately. Even a brief reply such as “I have seen this and will look at it tonight/tomorrow/before next meeting” is often enough to let your teammates know you are engaged.

Remember that everyone has different schedules and commitments. The goal is not to be constantly online, but to communicate reliably and keep your teammates informed.

Can we use Discord/WhatsApp/Messenger instead of university tools?

Yes, your group may use any communication platform that all members of the group can access and are willing to use. Normally this is something you would decide in the first week of the project.

Whichever platform you choose, important decisions should be visible to the whole group rather than taking place in private conversations between a subset of members. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to participate in project discussions.

Official communications from the teaching staff will still be sent through the University’s normal communication channels (typically email).

A team member has stopped responding. How long should we wait?

Try contacting the student using the communication methods your group has agreed to use, as well as their UWA email address.

If there has been no response after several days and repeated reasonable attempts to make contact, let your facilitator or the unit coordinator know. Don’t wait until the end of semester before raising the issue!

Early notification allows us to determine whether there are circumstances the student has not yet communicated to the group and, where appropriate, help the group make alternative arrangements.

I feel like decisions are being made without me. What should I do?

All members of the group should have a reasonable opportunity to contribute to important project decisions. Good software engineering is a collaborative process, and teams generally make better decisions when they consider a range of viewpoints.

If you feel your ideas are not being heard, raise the issue with your teammates early rather than becoming disengaged. In many cases, your teammates may not realise that discussions have become one-sided.

It can help to suggest a more structured way of making decisions. For example, your group might:

If, after making a genuine effort to resolve the issue within the group, you still feel excluded from the project’s decision-making, speak with your lab facilitator or the unit coordinator. Contact teaching staff early, if possible – it is much easier for us to assist with problems like this while the project is still in progress than after it has been submitted.

Development process

Do we have to use Git for version control?

Yes – using Git for distributed version control is a required part of the project. Version control is an essential professional software engineering practice. It allows multiple people to collaborate safely, records the history of changes, makes it easier to recover from mistakes, and provides visibility into how a project has developed over time – and it also provides useful evidence of contribution if questions arise during assessment (although this is not its primary purpose).

Git is overwhelmingly the most-used version control tool in industry, so it’s important to get familiar with it. Your group may choose any suitable hosting service (for example GitHub, GitLab, SourceHut, or another Git hosting provider), and strategies for working with Git will be discussed in lectures.

Can we use AI tools while working on the project?

Yes. Students are encouraged to use GenAI tools to research problems, obtain ideas, and even produce draft code.

However:

And note also that for any assessment – covered elsewhere in the CITS5501 FAQ under “plagiarism” – any student or group may be asked to orally explain their thought process in coming up with their answers.