NSF-Funded Research Project

Documenting & Assessing
Individual Contributions
to Team Software Projects

The PORTRAIT framework provides a principled, evidence-based approach for fairly evaluating each student's authentic contributions within collaborative computing and engineering projects.

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PORTRAIT
PORTfolios foR Assessing
Individual Contributions to
Team Projects
NSF Award #2236961 IUSE: EDU Program
The Challenge

Why Assessing Team Projects Is Hard

Team-based projects are central to computing and engineering education, yet instructors routinely struggle to evaluate what each individual student actually contributed — not just what the team produced as a whole.

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Hidden Contributions

Traditional grading captures team outputs, not individual effort — leaving high contributors indistinguishable from free-riders.

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Lack of Evidence

Without structured documentation, students cannot effectively articulate their own technical and professional accomplishments.

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Fairness & Equity

Subjective or proxy-based grading creates inequities, especially for students from underrepresented groups who may be undervalued.

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Accreditation Gaps

ABET and similar bodies require demonstration of individual student outcomes — a gap that portfolio-based evidence can directly address.

About the Framework

What Is PORTRAIT?

PORTRAIT stands for PORTfolios foR Assessing Individual Contributions to Team Projects. It is a comprehensive research-grounded framework that enables instructors and students to document, reflect on, and assess individual contributions to collaborative software development projects using structured digital portfolios aligned with accreditation outcomes.

The PORTRAIT framework comprises three tightly integrated components designed to work together across the full project lifecycle:

1

Portfolio Assessment Framework

A structured rubric and theoretical model grounding individual assessment in ABET student outcomes. Provides instructors with clear, consistent criteria for evaluating portfolio evidence submitted by students.

2

Portfolio Construction Activity

A scaffolded process through which students document their individual contributions, decisions, and reflections in real time throughout the project — building a rich, authentic evidence record.

3

Portfolio Assessment Activity

A structured evaluation process in which instructors review individual student portfolios, apply the assessment framework, and provide targeted, evidence-based feedback aligned with learning outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

ABET Outcome Areas

The PORTRAIT framework is explicitly mapped to seven key ABET student outcome areas, ensuring that individual portfolio evidence directly supports program accreditation and documents holistic student development.

Outcome 01 Solution Identification Ability to identify, formulate, and define complex engineering and computing problems.
Outcome 02 Solution Design & Implementation Designing, implementing, and evaluating computing solutions that meet specified requirements.
Outcome 03 Communication Effective written, oral, and visual communication with diverse audiences in professional contexts.
Outcome 04 Ethical Decision Making Recognizing professional and ethical responsibilities and making informed judgments in practice.
Outcome 05 Teamwork Functioning effectively as a member or leader within multidisciplinary collaborative teams.
Outcome 06 Experimentation & Evaluation Applying scientific methods to analyze problems, conduct experiments, and interpret results.
Outcome 07 Information Literacy Identifying, locating, evaluating, and effectively using information from diverse sources.
Research Agenda

Research & Design Questions

Research Questions
RQ1

Impact on Learning & Attitudes

How does the PORTRAIT pedagogy impact student learning outcomes and student attitudes toward team projects, self-assessment, and professional skills development in software engineering courses?

RQ2

Portfolio Ratings & Peer Perceptions

How do students' self-assessed portfolio ratings relate to their teammates' perceptions of their contributions, and how do both measures relate to their teams' overall deliverable grades?

RQ3

Team & Individual Variation

How do teams and individual team members differ in their attainment of the student learning outcomes targeted by team projects, and what factors explain variation across students and teams?

Broader Impact

Why This Research Matters

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Student Equity

Individual assessment ensures that strong contributors are recognized and that no student can coast on their teammates' work unnoticed.

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Evidence-Based Grading

Instructors gain access to richer, portfolio-based evidence that supports fair, defensible, and transparent individual grades.

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Advancing CS Education Research

Findings will contribute to the broader field of computing education, informing how team-based learning is assessed at scale.