Dear colleague,
You and your peer review partner are requested to peer review each other’s final exam and resit.
This is an important task aimed at improving the quality of the exams. The quality of testing is crucial
for the quality of our programme and an important criterion on which our programme is judged by
external assessors. The peer review concerns different aspects, such as formal requirements, the
quality of the test itself, and the equivalency of the exam (in topics and degree of difficulty) with the
resit. See the checklist below.
Checklist Peer Review documents
Included in the peer review are the following documents:
 Syllabus of the course, including learning objectives, test matrix and an explanation how the final
grade is calculated,
 the final exam and/or resit, including instructions for students and an explanation how the grade
for the exam is calculated,
 answer keys for the exam, and
 planned date of examination.
Scheme peer review partners master Forensic science:
Course 1
Criminalistics and
Analytical Chemistry
Statistical Paradoxes and
Professional Skills
Complex Crime Scenes
Coordinator
Shirly Berends
Block
1
Tjard de Cock
Buning
Irene O’Sullivan
2
Forensic Statistics and
DNA-Evidence
Chain of Evidence
Bert van Es
4
Shirly Berends
5
Advanced Forensic
Biology
Ate Kloosterman
1
3
Course 2
Between Crime Scene
and Research
Reasoning and Formal
Modelling
Policy, Ethics and Media
Physical and Forensic
Anthropoloy
Criminal Law and Expert
Evidence
Observer Based
Techniques
Coordinator
Maurice Aalders
Block
1
Radboud Winkels
2
Tjard de Cock
Buning
Liesbeth Smits
6
Koen Vriend
5
Erwin Mattijssen
2
4
When should you send and receive the documents?
You and your peer review partner are expected to send each other the documentation at the latest
two weeks before the planned date of the examination.
What should you do as the peer reviewer?
After having received the documents from your partner coordinator you have to review the test and
give feedback in order to improve the quality of the assessment. Please use the checklist below.
Please send your advice to the responsible lecturer and/or course coordinator latest one week
before the planned examination. A copy of the comments is send to the secretary of the examination
board (exambfsc-science@uva.nl) and the programme coordinator (fs-iis-science@uva.nl).
What should you do with the peer review results?
After having received the comment of your peer reviewer, you are expected to make appropriate
changes to your exam and resit based on the advice of your peer review partner.
Please note: The reviewer is asked to point out any mistakes and unclear aspects, and to give
recommendations on how tests might be improved. Please make as much use as possible of these
suggestions. In some cases, useful but not urgent suggestions cannot be accommodated before the
exam/resit is taken. In those cases, you can save these recommendations for a later time. You as the
lecturer and/or course coordinator are responsible for the quality of the exam and resit – which also
means that you have the final say.
1
Course
Coordinator
Reviewed test (strike through as necessary):
Date
Peer reviewer
Exam
Checklist for Peer Reviewer
+/-
Resit
advice
Formal requirements:
1.
Is the type of exam announced in the course
manual / programme syllabus the same as the
exam as it was held? (e.g., if the course manual
announced a multiple choice exam, was the exam
as it was held indeed a mc exam?)
2.
Is the exam provided with proper instructions for
students??
3.
Are there an answer key available for the exam?
4.
It is possible for students to finish the exam in the
time reserved for the exam? (A rule of thumb is
that students spend two or three times the
amount that a lecturer would need to finish the
exam.)
5.
It is clearly indicated to students how the final
result for the exam is calculated? (For multiple
choice exams, this would include a statement
whether or not the final mark is corrected for
chance.)
Quality and clarity of the exam
6.
Is the exam clearly phrased and without language
mistakes? (This includes instructions, questions,
pictures, model answers, assessment criteria and
assessment forms)
Please indicate typo's, mistakes, and phrases that
might be unclear for students. A good starting
point would be to indicate what is not explicitly
clear to you (as an expert in the field).
Relation with learning objectives:
The course manual / programme syllabus describes the learning objectives students need to master (e.g.,
particular concepts or theories, or skills) and the level of achievement at which students should master these
elements (e.g., reproduce in their own words, apply, evaluate).
Keep in mind that every test is a selection of the most important aspects taught in the course. It is not possible
to test every bit of content..
7.
Does the test cover the main content and skills
taught in the course?
8.
Are students tested at the right achievement level?
9.
Is the content and achievement level of the resit
equivalent to the final exam?
Equivalence of resit with final exam (only applicable for resit review)
2
Other remarks (if applicable):
3