Structuring peer assessment: Comparing the impact of the degree of structure on peer feedback content

Abstract

The present study examines the added value of structuring the peer assessment process, by providing students with a peer feedback template with a varying structuring degree, for the peer feedback content quality in a wiki environment in higher education. The present study took place in the 1st year of a university course in Instructional Sciences (N=176) and more specifically compared three conditions: no structure peer feedback (control), basic structure peer feedback, and elaborate structure peer feedback condition. Quantitative content analysis of students' (n=41) peer feedback messages was performed, and analyses of (co)variance revealed some discrepancies between the conditions regarding the proportion of peer feedback content categories: (1) peer feedback style, (2) verification type, (3) verification focus, (4) elaboration type, and (5) elaboration focus. This study demonstrated that a higher structuring degree in a peer feedback template during the peer assessment process can have an impact on peer feedback content with respect to the abovementioned categories the peer feedback content. Results revealed significant differences between the three conditions regarding the peer feedback content categories. This study illustrated how a practical instructional intervention in the feedback process can increase the potential impact of peer assessment and boost students' learning in higher education.

The Effect of Peer Assessment on the Evaluation Process of Students

“…Spiller (2009); Kollar & Fisher (2010) proved that students often have concerns about the evaluation processes, so it is not surprising that there is some hesitations or fears about showing their work to others, so they think that their peers are not qualified to assess their work, and that only teachers are assigned to the evaluation process. These concerns are diminished when the peer assessment activity is formative rather than summative, but there is ample evidence that peer assessment can be used reliably for summative work (Gielen & Wever, 2015;Lladó et al, 2014;University of Sussex US, 2015). However, this requires explanation of the purposes and advantages of peer assessment and feedback activity at the beginning.…”

Students experiences of peer-support during a Master’s thesis process

“…[13,19,21,23,25] There have also been studies from the viewpoint of nursing science [1,18,26,27] and dental education, [4] psychology [20] and physiotherapy. [6] There are also some studies on academic doctoral dissertation writing processes in group or pair contexts.…”

“…[5,11] Today one outcome of the students' learning process is the ability to engage in active learning as a member of a group. [12,13] In a thesis group, interaction between peers is emphasized. [5,14] During peer-support students receive support from each other.…”

“…[5,14] During peer-support students receive support from each other. [7,[13][14][15] Peer-support gives students opportunities to develop their own thinking. This helps with knowledge structuring [16] and with sharing key ideas and findings.…”

“…(13) "The biggest guidance and support was mental. It is relieving to notice that we all think about same kinds of problems/challenges, although our research questions, designs and methods are different."…”