Peer Assessment using forums, database and workshop guide

Peer assessment is the assessment of students' work by their peers against set assessment criteria.

In general, there are two types of peer assessments:

• Assessment of team contribution in group work - members of a group assess the performance of the peers in terms of their contribution to the group's work.
• Assessment of coursework undertaken by other students - students provide feedback/grades on their peers' work.

In either case, self-assessment may be included as part of peer assessment. Self-assessment requires students to reflect on their own work and judge how well they have performed in relation to the assessment criteria. Developing reflective skills provides students with the ability to consider their own performance and to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas that require improvement. Students can then use this knowledge to influence their future work, whether on a programme of study or in employment.

It is crucial that at the outset, students understand the purpose of peer assessment and how their performance will be assessed.

• Peer assessment encourages deep learning. It develops the capacity for students to reflect on and evaluate their own learning and skill development.
• Peer assessment gets students involved and allows them to be an active agent in assessment procedures.
• Peer assessment helps students to develop a clearer understanding of assessment criteria. It enables students to understand what constitutes good work and work towards improvement in future work.
• Peer assessment of team contributions promotes a sense of fairness in group work. As group members themselves know best about the relative contributions of individual members, they are empowered to reward members who contribute significantly or positively to the group work with higher mark. By doing so, students are encouraged to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work.
• By assessing or evaluating each other’s work, students take up the role of appraisers and, over time, acquire the skills they need to make judgements on their own work (Sadler, 2010).
• Peer assessment 'allows students to recognise areas of their strength and weakness as team members (Lerchenfeldt et. al., 2019).
• Peer assessment 'is an effective way for each student to participate actively in a team project'. 'An instructor may not observe all the processes occurring within the student groups. Typically, instructors evaluate the quality of the final product without knowledge of the team work process' (Lee & Lim, 2012).
• Knowing that their contribution will be graded by their peers can help students to contribute effectively to the group effort.

References

• Lee, H.-J., & Lim, C. (2012). Peer Evaluation in Blended Team Project-Based Learning: What Do Students Find Important? Educational Technology & Society, 15 (4), pp.214–224.
• Lerchenfeldt, S., Mi, M. & Eng, M. (2019). The utilization of peer feedback during collaborative learning in undergraduate medical education: a systematic review. BMC Medical Education 19, 321.
• Sadler, D. R. (2010). Beyond feedback: Developing student capability in complex appraisal, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education

Listed below are some considerations to ensure the right peer assessment option is selected.

Why are you using peer assessment?

The purpose of using peer assessment needs to be communicated clearly to both students and colleagues so that they know what is expected of them and the learning benefits of the peer assessment exercise.

What will be assessed?

Team contribution, student work or combination of both.

Who will be assessing whom?

• Individuals assess individual or group work, or
• Students work in collaboration to assess other groups’ work, and/or
• Students assess their own work (self-assessment), and/or
• Lecturer moderates peer grades and feedback.

Where will the peer assessment take place?

In-class / Take-home. Marking in class has the advantage in that it can help students to develop a wider range of communication skills, allow their work to be shared with the rest of the class, and enable them to receive immediate feedback.

How does it work with assessment tasks and workflow?

• Clear assessment criteria and grading scheme are essential to supporting 'good' peer assessment. Ensure that students are not just awarding marks to each other but fully understand the assessment requirements and the difference between the grades.
• Grades or comments/feedback, or both. Students can gain more from giving than receiving feedback through developing skills of evaluative judgement, engaging more closely with the assessment criteria for the task and articulating their thinking.
• Peer assessment can be done openly, encouraging comparison and discussion, or anonymously depending on the assessment task and context.
• Marking allocation - how markers are allocated and why.