Reciprocal Peer Coaching as a Formative Assessment Strategy

1
Reciprocal Peer Coaching as a Formative
Assessment Strategy

• A qualitative study
• 2008

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What is RPC

• A form of co-operative learning
• Key principle that tutor organises students to
  work in groups to a specific task
• Variety of models
• PAL
• RPC
• Definition of coaching
• Giving non-evaluative feedback, active listening,
  asking open-ended questions, exploring options
• (Ladyshewsky 2001)

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Theoretical Basis RPC

• Cognitive development theory
• Critical cognitive conflict/disequilibrium
• Motivation to increase understanding
• Vygotsky, zone of proximal development, learning
  as a social process
• Behavioural learning Theory
• Reward /punishment
• Reinforcement external, self-administered,
  vicarious

4
Key elements

• A mutually interdependent and specific goal that
  demands co-operation
• We all sink or swim together
• Individual accountability
• Clear guidance about group processes
• (Johnson and Johnson 1994)

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BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy and RPC

• Professional practice and clinical demands
• Large number of skills to be learnt and assessed
• Stress of summative assessment
• Momentary competence
• Increasing requirement for formative assessment
• Time consuming

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The study

• Anecdotal evidence suggested value for students
  in RPC, motivated learning, valued instant
  feedback, assessment for learning
• Literature suggests research needed re formative
  assessment
• Fit to qualitative perspective
• Phenomenological approach

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Sample and method

• 4 individual interviews
• Focus group 8 students
• Data analysis
• Ashworths (2003) approach, considering data
  through lens of selfhood, spatiality,
  temporality, embodiment, sociality, project and
  discourse

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Findings

• 3 Themes
• Motivating learning
• Learning in and as a group
• The Context of learning

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Motivating Learning

• Time
• I think everyone was a bit shocked at how
  intimidating it was. But I think it did everyone
  good because it made us learn things halfway
  through rather than leaving it till the last
  minute
• Like school, its that sort of format, you have a
  test at the end of the course, its good to have
  that format
• Were under pressure whether its one person going
  to be asked to talk through a treatment or
  whether we all will. So straight away were all
  focused and we get to grips straight away with
  the case study

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Motivating learning

• Feedback
• Anything I get from this experience will help me
  in the future, its not to scare me or put me off
  its just a back up of what Ive already been
  taught
• Formative is a kind of invisible mark. It gives
  you a good idea of how you are doing in the year
  so far so if youve done rubbish you need to go
  away and revisit then because come the exam its
  going to be the same.
• I think if we didnt do the formatives, people
  wouldnt bother reading over why it was used or
  the contraindications, it would just be left
  until they were in clinic and theyd be like
  what on earth is this!

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Important note

• Feedback occurred between peers, between tutors
  and peers and vicariously
• But students saw little value in self and peer
  assessment, relying heavily on external
  feedback/reinforcement from tutors i.e. the
  experts!

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Motivation

• Emotional
• Its still quite scary even though youre not
  being officially assessed on it. You dont want
  to look stupid and say something silly and you
  want to give the right answers
• The one issue that Ive had recently was getting
  failed on a certain skill because of somebody
  elses inability to talk about it and explain it.
  I wasnt particularly happy about that I dont
  think its fair relying on somebody elses
  knowledge and ability.

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Learning in and as a group

• Also you get more pressure because it is,
  everyone in your group is relying on you to pass.
  Its like God if I fail this everyones going to
  fail it
• It took the pressure off a little bit, because
  you are working as part of a team, but then if
  you were picked the pressure was on and it was
  your responsibility to make everybody do well
  because you all got the same.. well it was on
  everybodys head wasnt it

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cont

• Its not all about you, focus on making sure
  everybody else knows it as well as you do, so if
  they get picked, well its about team working,
  isnt it, so, making sure everybody knew what we
  were about to do and how to answer the questions
  and how to do things.
• Teaching people is a really good way of
  solidifying your brain

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Contextualising learning

• But I think its good because when you get
  something like that wrong you wouldnt do it
  again. I think since I started here things like
  making sure the patient is comfortable is getting
  ingrained
• (Student talking about being with a patient) So
  if youre confident obviously its going to make
  them a bit more at ease, whereas if youre a bit
  more scared theyll be thinking does he actually
  know how to do this whereas if you are confident
  you just do it and get a good rapport with them
• It puts a clinical swerve on it and thats what
  were here to do at the end of the day

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Discussion Self regulation of learning

• Zimmermans model (2000) Self regulation is self
  generated thoughts, feelings and actions that are
  planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment
  of personal goals. (a social cognitive view
• Triadic loop
• Personal, behavioural, environmental

Adjusting Cognition and affective states
Adjusting environmental conditions
Adjusting performance, methods of learning
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Cyclical
Forethought
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Forethought

• Goal setting important utility value, process
  goals as opposed to distal outcomes
• Motivation linked to self efficacy belief about
  capabilities to organise and implement action
  necessary to perform a skill.
• Intrinsic interest
• Time management
• Role of emotions

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Performance

• Environmental structuring (i.e. RPC process)
• Time on task
• Cognitive rehearsal

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Self reflection

• Mastery, previous performance, normative and
  collaborative

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Some other thoughts!

• The first year experience
• Novices versus experts in SRL
• Transition from school to university
• Importance of feedback that is dialogic
• Academic literacy
• Feedback improves self-efficacy requires focus on
  positive
• SRL can be learnt from instruction and modeling
  from teachers, parents, coaches and peers.
• Self regulated students seek out help from others
  to improve their learning

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References

• Ladyshewsky (2001) Reciprocal Peer Coaching. The
  Higher Education Research and Development Society
  of Australia
• Ashworth P (2003) The Phenomenology of the
  Lifeworld and Social Psychology, Social
  Psychological Review vol5, no 1, p18-34
• Ladyshewsky R (2002) Reciprocal peer coaching as
  a strategy for the development of leadership and
  management competency. Teaching and learning
  forum proceedings Edith Cowan University
  http//lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2002/ladyshewsky.h
  tml
• Johnson R and Johnson D (1994) An Overview of
  Cooperative Learning.
• http//www.co-operation.org/pages/overviewpaper.ht
  ml
• Zimmerman B (2000) Attaining Self-Regulation in
  Boekaerts M Pintrich P Zeidner M Handbook of Self
  Regulation, Elsevier Academic Press
• Zimmerman B (2002) Becoming a Self-regulated
  learner an overview Theory into Practice vol 41,
  no 2, 64-70