Peer assessing composition in higher education

Abstract

Peer assessment is a relatively new approach, especially in music higher education where there seems to be a resistance to changes which give more control of the assessment process to student and, apparently, less to lecturers. At Kingston University peer assessment has been introduced into a number of modules on the BA (Hons) in music and also the BEd (Hons-music specialism) courses. These include: performance; music, performance and communication (a community based performance project); music and business; and composition. The latter is the main focus of this paper, although some of the observations are applicable to other curriculum areas. The main purposes of the study have been to evaluate student attitudes towards peer assessment, to identify features which have been successful, and to identify features which could be improved. The Pilot Scheme Peer assessment was introduced in the Autumn of 1992, initially as a way of cutting down on the time staff spent marking compositions, but also to get feedback to students more quickly, as this was a matter of concern for both staff and students. A framework for the introduction of the new method was established in consultation

An Evaluation of the Use of Peer Assessment in Higher Education: a case study in the School of Music, Kingston University

“…Peer assessment has been used in HE for at least 20 years, and the closely related and complementary approach of self-assessment has been researched since the 1930s (Sumner, 1932). Recent studies of the use of peer assessment have been carried out by Conway et al (1993), Falchikov (1988), Hunter and Russ (1996), Oldfield and Mac Alpine (1995) and Searby and Ewers (1996) which tend to focus on the peer assessment of group work.…”

Assessing personal attributes in the group rehearsal

“…In the higher education subject area of music, peer assessment has also been reported in a number of activities including solo performance (Blom and Poole 2004;Daniel 2004;Hunter and Russ 1996;Searby and Ewers 1996), group performance (Pulman 2004), orchestration (Hunter and Russ 2000), composition (Searby and Ewers 1996), music history group seminar presentations (Hunter and Russ 2000) and recording (Lebler 2008).…”