Who Assesses Student Learning?
Innovative Approaches: Self, Peer and Group Asessment
Why should you consider involving students in the assessment of their learning?
In many educational institutions, assessment by lecturers dominates, however there is growing evidence that involving students in the assessment process helps their learning.This is called self and peer assessment, two sources of assessment that can be used with a variety of methods of assessment.
| Self assessment is a process where students are involved in the assessment of their own work. |
| Peer assessment is where students are involved in the assessment of the work of other students. It can involve the assessment of the work of one student or the work done by a group of students. |
| Group assessment is where the lecturer or peer group assesses the product and/or the process of student group work. |
For further information on group, peer and self assessment see practical guidelines written by Rob East
http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/assessment/group.html
A useful brief guide on self peer and group assessment by Phil Race can be found at
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/Resources/gc/assess09SelfPeerGroup.pdf
The benefits of self and peer ssessment are high quality learning, skills development, personal development and affective dispositions. See Benefits and Challenges of using self and peer assessment
For further information on the benefits of using self and peer assessment see
http://www.exemplars.com/resources/formative/assessment.html
http://activelearning.uta.edu/FacStaff/formsum.htm
When is it appropriate to use self and peer assessment?
Potentially, most types/methods of assessment lend themselves to some form of peer and self assessment.
Race, Brown and Smith (2005: 133-134) outline several methods of assessment where it is appropriate to include peer assessment:
- student presentations
- reports
- essay plans
- calculations
- interviews
- annotated bibliographies
- practical work
- poster displays
- portfolios
- exhibitions and artefacts
- performances
Self assessment can take different forms, including a guided exercise where students go through a check list to establish what they have learnt, or take the form of reflection questions.
Self assessment is usually appropriate for formative purposes: student self reflection and monitoring of their learning. However, it is sometimes used for summative purposes when students are asked to submit a self-reflective piece of work with the assignment, portfolio, etc., to encourage reflection and self criticism. In this instance, the self-assessment exercise is marked by the tutor. Here is an example of this approach. Self Assessment of Portfolio work For Spanish language students – Level 1
A suggested format to be used for self assessment from Atherton J.S. (2009) Learning and Teaching; forms of assessment [on-line] is available at: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/assessment_self.htm
Can self and peer assessment be used for formative and/or summative purposes?
Self and peer and assessment are appropriate when used for formative purposes – i.e. to provide feedback on their learning. There is significant evidence suggesting that students learn from receiving feedback from other, as well as from giving feedback to each other (Falchikov, 2005).
Peer assessment can also be used summatively. Peer marking should be carefully introduced with meaningful criteria that students can understand. The process should be carefully moderated.
How do you assess group work?
The assessment of group can present particular challenges in relation to the allocation of marks if there is an uneven contribution from students within the group. Rust (2001) suggest a number of practical strategies to assess group work:
- Group mark. Award a group mark, but allow for a “yellow card” if all the group members feel that a member of the group is not putting their weight. If the offending member changes his behaviour before a certain date, the can will be cancelled. If not a 5% penalty in their mark will be imposed. In the worst scenario, a red card can be awarded and the student has to produce an individual piece of work instead.
- Individual contracts. Assign individual responsibilities and assess each member on the degree to which they have met their individual responsibilities.
- Divided group mark. Allow the group to divide the group mark depending on individual contributions. Let’s say that the project is given a total of 100 marks; then the group members decide how to allocate the figure. Group members must reach an agreement and this can be challenging for the students.
- Peer-assessed contributions. Only a percentage of the marks is allotted to this process. For example, the lecturer can allocate 80% of the project mark and the group may divide 20% among its members.
- Conduct a viva. The lecturer gives an individual mark to the student after the viva. This mark is added to the group mark.
- Set a project exam. Again, a common mark is awarded to the group, but the exam will have one or more compulsory questions related to the project.
For further information on assessing group work see Phil Race's guide p.l6-20 http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/Resources/gc/assess09SelfPeerGroup.pdf
Case Studies of Good Practice of Assessment of Student Learning in Higher Education.-Geraldine O’Neill, Sylvia Huntley Moore and Phil Race Case studies of good practice in self and peer assessment can be found at http://www.aishe.org/readings/2007-1/
