Peer Evaluation: Enhancing learning Opportunities and Reducing Marking Effort

Abstract

Evaluation of report-based assignments, especially in larger classes, adds a considerable marking load. Even with detailed rubrics, subjectivity may lead to grading variations and inaccuracies. Evaluation of others’ work can also be a very informative and educational experience, improving their skill through exposure to a broader performance range. Involving students in peer evaluation can potentially address both of these issues by reducing marking load, providing alternate (and increased number of) assessments, and by exposing students to a broader spectrum of report skills thus enhancing their own knowledge.
 This paper discusses the results of an experiment in peer assessment and whether it can be exploited to reduce marking effort, improve accuracy for report assignment evaluation and improve student skill. The data was gathered from assignments in two different engineering classes: a second year course on safety and environmental stewardship, and a senior course on engineering economics.
 For the second-year course, an individual essay assignment was marked by the instructor and two peers. The three evaluations were analyzed to assess the accuracy and assign a grade. For the senior course, a group report on a case study was self and peer evaluated. These evaluations were used to derive a grade for the report directly if the self and peer results were within a prescribed tolerance; other cases were resolved by instructor intervention. The results were analyzed considering the number of outliers, range of scores, and the number of cases which had to be resolved by theinstructor.
 Parameters considered in assessing the results of the experiment included: the correlation between assessments, the learning opportunities for students, and instructor marking effort required. (preliminary analysis) Results suggest positive gains in reducing effort. Improved accuracy and enhanced student learning are also expected.

Peer Assessment: Preparing for Professional Practice

“…Effect of Course on Professionalism Previous work by the author has suggested that the average of a number of peer reviews tends to be very close to the assumed "accurate" reference. [2] This can be seen again in this case where although the standard deviation is approximately twice that of the control, the averages are extremely close. This may also be evidence of Dylan Wiliam's thesis that peers can be more honest than instructors.…”

“…Another potential strategy to minimize the potential inaccuracies of a broad variation in marks would be to eliminate outliers as used previously by Schmid. [2] In this case, the integration of the control marks help minimize the error, resulting in an acceptable result.…”

“…These same benefits should also be made available to students through their courses. [2] Further, students may benefit more from peer feedback than instructor feedback, being openly honest and using terms with which students are familiar. [3] These benefits are consistent with those cited by Orjuela-Laverde and Chen.…”

Peer-Marking and peer-feedback for coding exercises

“…As well as the student learning, another potential key benefit to peer assessment, especially with large class sizes is that tutor time for marking can be reduced. Lynch and Schmid (2017) calculated that marking in their study could be reduced by approximately 70%, as the tutor only now needs to review the peer assessment scores and comments to derive the grade. They noted that this time could be reduced through use of more automation if the same evaluation method was used multiple times.…”