The difference in my mind is that you are not graded on the documentation or the presentation. Therefore, you are not being "forced to do it" for an extrinsic reward. But I do understand your point. As teachers we are still bound by time and curriculum.
How are you keeping the students accountable if they are not being graded? I'm not attempting to criticize the idea (I'm rather interested in it), but I'm curious how you deal with the student that says "I'm not being graded, so I'm not doing it."
This question did come up in my class. I said "if you do not want to take this opportunity seriously and would rather be graded on an assignment, I'll gladly assign you a different project for the rest of the year that I will grade you on." He stayed with the 20% project.
The accountability is in the documentation and the presentations. More of a peer accountability than anything else (which I think is powerful). I'd be happy to hear any suggestions!
