Why peer assessment

Motivate students to engage with course material more deeply. Considerations for Using Peer Assessment Let students know the rationale for doing peer review.

Explain the expectations and benefits of engaging in a peer review process. Consider having students evaluate anonymous assignments for more objective feedback. Display some examples of feedback of varying quality and discuss which kind of feedback is useful and why. Give clear directions and time limits for in-class peer review sessions and set defined deadlines for out-of-class peer review assignments.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Click to tell your friends, colleagues and school administrators about PLB's courses. Privacy Policy Terms of Use. Online PD for Teachers. Submit Purchase Order. A systematic review of tools that support peer assessment, Computer Science Education 19 4 , — Raban, R. Self and peer assessment in group work using TeCTra. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning.

Proceedings ascilite Singapore , — Rourke, A. Did I mention it's anonymous? The triumphs and pitfalls of online peer review. In Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings ascilite Melbourne , — The contributions of staff who engaged with the preparation of this topic are gratefully acknowledged.

This website. UNSW Websites. Breadcrumb Teaching. Student Peer Assessment. Overview Peer assessment is the assessment of students' work by other students of equal status. When to use You can use peer assessment formatively that is, without grading it , or summatively. Benefits Peer assessment has the following benefits: It engages students in the learning process and develops their capacity to reflect on and evaluate their own learning and skill development.

Race argues that "the act of applying assessment criteria to evidence such as essays, reports, presentations, and so on is a much deeper learning experience in itself than just reading or observing the assessment artefacts. Particularly when structured marking schemes are used, peer assessment has an acceptably high level of validity and reliability.

Although students tend to award higher marks than tutors, they do not tend to be any more generous than external examiners.

Peer assessment is usually a positive experience for students. They appreciate its value in exposing a wide range of learning activities to critical and more public review, including class discussions and debates, extended writing tasks, oral and digital presentations, project management processes and demonstrations of leadership.

In the context of assessing group work tasks, peer assessment can promote a sense of fairness, by illuminating individual contributions and encouraging greater commitment to the group's effort. With formalised peer assessment processes, students can become more active agents in assessment procedures.

They can also gain insight into the complexities of interpreting and grading evidence of learning, and see more clearly the processes underpinning scholarly review and publication. Students thus "feel ownership of the assessment and learning process rather than alienated or victimised by it" Nulty, n. Challenges Peer assessment can present the following challenges: If it does not contribute to the summative grade, students may undervalue its significance for their learning and avoid seriously engaging with it.

If it does count towards the grade, it can raise social tensions and issues of loyalty. Students can be reluctant to criticise their peers; recipients may not consider peer feedback to be sufficiently objective.

Students may award everyone at one level. They may also pick on one person unfairly. Therefore it is necessary for teachers to keep control of the assessment conditions, grading criteria or grouping in the class. Peer assessments provide students with an overview of things to be considered by teachers when marking work. Because of this, they can better understand the academic requirements.

Students who assess the work of their peers learn more effectively. Using peer assessment helps students to deepen their understanding of the subject. Get students to check assignments, cross-check class tests or lecture notes of their peers. A discussion-based activity is an effective method to analyse gaps or differences in understanding. Use constructive feedback when carrying out the evaluation.

You should build sessions on how to give feedback into your teaching to help students understand what this is.