What should I consider if I’m planning to use peer assessment?
TEST: Peer assessment is a flexible pedagogical approach that can be utilized in a variety of ways. This section discusses using peer assessment to evaluate students’ participation in the efforts of their project team. More specifically it focuses on written peer assessment assignments, rather than more general peer feedback approaches which are discussed more in length in other parts.
Peer assessment is a flexible pedagogical approach that can be utilized in a variety of ways. This section discusses using peer assessment to evaluate students’ participation in the efforts of their project team. More specifically it focuses on written peer assessment assignments, rather than more general peer feedback approaches which are discussed more in length in other parts.
Peer assessment can help in encouraging equal participation of all team members in the project. In all group work contexts, there is a risk that some members of the team do not put in the same effort as others. This can cause team dynamics issues like frustration and conflicts, and naturally reduces the team's output if everybody is not working seriously on the project. However, if every team members knows that peer assessment will have an influence on the final grade, this provides a clear incentive to participate.
Sometimes the incentive doesn’t work, but then peer assement works as can an instrument to reward those who put in more effort and sanction those who did less. Related to this, it should be underlined that peer assessment should not be considered as a mechanism for punishing inadequate effort, but it also allows rewarding those who are willing to put in the extra mile.
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- It is absolutely critical to define clearly how peer assessment influences or can influence the final grade. Even if you plan on using a grading system, where there is an element of teacher discretion at play, some default guidelines should still be defined at least internally.
- It is by default a good idea to combine peer-assessment with self-assessment. This foster personal reflection and provides for you as a teacher additional viewpoint to consider and refer to when doing grading.
- Be clear about the visibility of the feedbacks: are the peer feedbacks visible to other students or only to the teaching team? This can have an influence on the feedback itself, which is important to understand too.
- If the assessment includes other elements beyond just the project work, the scored assignment strategy is likely to be the clearest for both you and the students. In this case, the peer assessment form can be somewhat more complex.
- If the assessment consists purely of project group submissions, direct influence can be a smart strategy. In such cases, it's advisable to create a simpler peer assessment form.
- Well-functioning peer assessment system is built on the assumption that everybody from the team actually completes the peer assessment. Because of this, one should make it a mandatory part of the course.
- Regardless of the system you’re going to use
There are two different approaches in terms of how peer assessment influences the final grade: 1) peer assessment directly lowering or raising the final grade or 2) peer assessment being a separate scored assignment which influences final grade through the points the students gains from it.
Direct influence
In the direct influence approach, a student's grade is first calculated without considering the peer assessment. Based on the results of the peer assessment, the grade is then either increased or decreased.
From the perspective of benefits, this method provides a clear and direct impact on the final grade, ensuring an easily predictable actual effect on the final results when there are sufficient justifications for it. The approach also can make it a bit easier to exercise case-by-case discretion if no actual score
On the challenge side, given the significant impact on the grade, it is crucial to have very clearly defined criteria for what constitutes sufficient justification for raising or lowering a grade. To ensure these criteria are as clear as possible, the peer assessment form should be relatively simple in structure. This typically means having a limited number of questions, favoring quantitative questions, and using a straightforward scale for responses.
Scored assignment
In the scored assignment approach, peer assessment is treated as a scored task, and the result is incorporated into the participant's overall points, which ultimately determine the final grade.
This method allows and encourages the use of a more multifaceted peer assessment form. If combined with transparency, where students can see each other's evaluations, participants can receive detailed feedback on their performance, which can significantly enhance learning.
Since this approach influences the final grade indirectly through the accumulation of points, it is possible that even in cases of significant free-riding, there may be no impact on the final grade if the participant and their group have scored well on other tasks.
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