Peer assessment involves students taking responsibility for assessing the work of their peers
against set assessment criteria. They can therefore be engaged in providing feedback to their
peers (sometimes referred to as peer review), summative grades (moderated by you or your
colleagues), or a combination of the two. It's a powerful way for your students to act as the
'assessor' and to gain an opportunity to better understand assessment criteria It can also transfer
some ownership of the assessment process to them, thereby potentially increasing their
motivation and engagement.
It can be used to evaluate University students because the vast majority are classmates who are
required to complete assignments and engage in discussion forums. This enables students to
investigate the specifics of each task and come up with answers from many perspectives
(Wanner and Palmer, 2018). Peer assessment can • Increase students' active participation in
their studies; • Increase the amount of feedback they receive; • Supplement learning because
peer feedback invariably necessitates explanation and justification; and • Assist students in
understanding what is considered good work and why, thereby increasing their ability to
achieve.
Peer review is just part of the feedback pie. While you may find one method effective over the
other, we encourage you to seek out all types of feedback to enhance your professional
development. This insight is fuel to your professional transformation. Every suggestion, tip,
or praise counts. The concept of peer assessment has gained a lot of attention in recent years.
Gielen, e tal (2010) found the surprising fact about the research done in the field - that the
number of studies nearly tripled since Topping published his work on peer assessment in 1998.
Students must analyse assignment criteria more deeply and experience applying the criteria to
several instances while grading peers, which improves their ability to reflect on how their own
work compares to the criteria.
Students' perceptions of learning goals and criteria may differ from those of teachers (Hounsell,
1997; Norton, 1990). Students will become familiar with assessment standards and aware of
the characteristics that separate effective performance from that which fails to achieve the
expectation through peer assessment practice.
Set clear expectations and goals — Students are typically wary of peer evaluation, especially
when peer grading is involved, as well as offering and receiving comments. To create trust and
achieve student buy-in, it's critical to spell out the activity's objectives and goals for everyone
engaged. One of the educational research projects on peer review referenced in this guide might
be assigned to students.
Students should be given training – It is critical to give training exercises that educate students
how to analyze their classmates' work and provide constructive comments, especially for
rookie students. This can assist students not only enhance their skills to perform peer
assessments, but also their confidence in the process. TAs will need to be trained initially before
they can deliver training to students in huge courses.
Encourage detailed comments - Novice peer reviewers are more likely to focus on surfacelevel criticism and improvements, such as grammar or mistake repairs, rather than deeper
changes in meaning. Specific instructions, training, and guided feedback prompts can all assist
to improve the quality of feedback and the learning gains that occur. Students gain the most
from creating comments in which they not only identify strengths and flaws but also give
recommendations and tactics for growth, according to studies. Patchan and Schun (Patchan and
Schun, 2015).
References
Ireland, Christopher (2012). "Peer e-assessment of oral presentations". E--Assessment
Scotland 2012: Feeding Back, Forming the Future.
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