Making the most of peer assessment

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Making the most of peer assessment

• Paul Chin
• Physical Sciences Centre(Department of
  Chemistry)
• University of Hull

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Overview

• What is peer assessment
• Benefits of peer assessment
• Using technology to support peer learning and
  assessment
• WebPA peer assessment tool
• Engaging with peer assessment
• Student experiences at Hull

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Peer assessment

• Falchikov (2001) defines a peer as
• someone of the same social standing
• Peer assessment is the process of students giving
  formative or summative feedback to each other
  which may or may not involve the provision of a
  grade
• Can be 1 to 1 but also a group activity

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Constraints of peer assessment

• Administration can be time consuming
• Difficult with large groups
• Encourages freeloaders
• Individual achievement dependent on others
• Difficult to manage conflict
• Staff think it is too difficult to implement

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Benefits of peer assessment

• Enhanced learning
• Improved self reflection
• Social
• Better self confidence
• Develops critical thinking skills (and other
  transferable skills)
• Support mechanism for students

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Benefits of peer assessment for students

• Enhanced learning
• Improved self reflection
• Social
• Better self confidence
• Develops critical thinking skills (and other
  transferable skills)
• Support mechanism for students
• Employers look for team working skills

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Benefits of peer assessment for staff

• Enhanced learning
• Improved self reflection
• Social
• Better self confidence
• Develops critical thinking skills (and other
  transferable skills)
• Support mechanism for students
• Saves time?

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Using technology

• Campus based students
• Often have timetable clashes
• Already using VLEs, Facebook etc
• Undertake group work with online support
• Communication with groups and each other is more
  effective

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WebPA

• Peer assessment administration tool
• Allows full flexibility for group work
• Can alter scoring rates (e.g. 0 or 100)
• Very easy to use
• Web based interface
• Online demo available to try WebPA

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Peer assessment model

• Model produced by Goldfinch and Raeside 1990
• Latest version based on Li 2001
• Similar model for WebPA developed by Peter
  Willmott at Loughborough
• Students produce group product
• Students assess each others contribution to
  project
• Marks moderated based on level of marks awarded

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Peer assessment scheme

• IWF personal score / average
• Final mark IWFgroup mark
• Balances for uneven scoring
• Bias factor scoring of others/average rating
• Normalisation factor 1/bias factor
• Joe scores 47 and average score is 48 (project is
  70)
• 47/4870 68.5

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Implementing peer assessment - staff

• Need to have clear goal in mind
• Students need to be engaged with process
• Involve them in developing/understanding criteria
• Understand how to peer assess
• Formative or summative?

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Engaging with peer assessment student (1)

• Peer assessment goes on all the time (lab,
  essays)
• Why? Employers look for these skills
• Appreciate what is being assessed
• Are you getting formative feedback
• Are you acting on this to inform your development

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Engaging with peer assessment student (2)

• How might you record this evidence? (e.g.PDP)
• How do you gain further experience?
• Voluntary/part time work
• Extra curricula activities
• Set up your own peer assessment group?
  (formative)
• Informal study group
• Linked to seminars?

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E-learning approach to peer assessment

• Briefing session on working in groups
• Create most conditions of face to face group work
• Opportunity to meet up if need be
• Create group space online for communication
• Set some ground rules
• Give full details of peer assessment
  process(ideally involve students in setting
  assessment criteria)

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Experiences from Hull

• Student prior experience of peer assessment
• Student attitudes to peer assessment
• Outcomes of student mini projects
• Issues raised
• Developing good practice

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Prior experience of peer assessment
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Post experience of peer assessment
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Post-experience of peer assessment
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Attitudes

• Working in a group was beneficial 
• it allowed me to become more familiar with other
  students. 
• I was able to get an idea of other people's
  levels of abilities with which I could compare my
  own. 
• I was able to adopt other members' strategies of
  acheiving results eg time management, and  a
  more responsible working attitude. 
• Having other people to bounce ideas off was
  useful, however as communication was sometimes
  inadequate this was not utilised to its full
  potential.
• Sharing the responsibility made the workload seem
  less, and a more relaxed approach was possible on
  occasions.

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What did you enjoy about the peer assessment
process?

• Giving the others exectly what they deserved
  based on what they did.
• being able to annonymously comment on the work
  that others performed.
• having a say in the marks
• Interesting insight on your own and others work.
  Learn from others mistakes.

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Soundbites

• the fact that i could submit files and discuss
  aspects of the work whilst still in my pyjamas,
  at three in the morning. 
• Some times files were added at two or three am
  but they were their ready for anyone to look at
  the early the next morning.

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Making the most of peer assessment

• Have clear goal in mind
• Engage students in process
• Have introductory session
• Set ground rules
• Provide feedback on performance

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Students

• Be open minded to activity
• Take an active role in the process
• Record your experiences
• Reflect on how you might improve your strengths
• Be ready to demonstrate these skills to employers

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