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