Tips for Dealing with Free Riders: A Handout for Students

Credit: iStock.com/miroslav_1
Credit: iStock.com/miroslav_1
Free riders—those who don’t do their fair share of work in a group—frustrate students, especially when they get the same grade as everyone else in the group. A lot of students don’t realize there are ways groups can deal with free riders—ways that make it less likely that the rest of the group will have to pick up the slack. The purpose of this handout is to help those in your group correctly identify who’s free riding and provide a range of options for responding to that behavior.

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