Student Peer Review - Improving Feedback and Enhancing Learning

Dr Anne JonesCentre for Educational Development

Dr Bjoern ElsaesserSchool of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering

Structure

• Introduction to peer review• Case example from MEng Civil Engineering

Level 4 module• Some software to support peer review

Peer assessment or peer review?

• Peer assessment – where students award marks and may also give feedback

• Peer review – students provide feedback to each other – develops students’ ability to construct feedback

• Peer learning

Peer feedback can …

• Add to the amount and variety of feedback students already receive without adding to staff workload

• Address timeliness while it matters and with the opportunity to act on it

• Provide feedback in a language understood by the students

• Provide multiple sources of feedback – more realistic of the real world – develops ability to reconcile different viewpoints

• Engage students in constructing feedback

Engage students in constructing feedback

• Active learners – high level activity that is cognitively demanding

• Active engagement with criteria and standards• Often there is an element of reciprocity – feedback

provided on the same piece of work• Disciplinary expertise – writing feedback

commentaries deepens understanding• Learning communities • Self-assessment skills and professional life

Staff concerns

• Students do not have the knowledge or skill to comment on another’s work

• Too critical and harsh in their comments• Compromise academic integrity• Too time consuming

Student concerns

• ‘This is your job’ • ‘We don’t know how to do this’• ‘I wouldn’t trust the comments of another

student’• ‘What if I get a weaker student or someone I

don’t trust reviewing my work?’

Implementing peer review• Use exemplars to introduce students to the

process• Ask students to suggest something which

could be improved upon or is not included which could be relevant

• Ask students to review more than one piece of work so that the author of the work has comments to compare – and self-assess

• Tutor provides assessment on the quality of the feedback – ensures students engage

TESTA project• Poor quality lab reports• Students worked in groups to produce their lab

report as a poster• Students asked to write comments on all the posters• → increased learning gains in lab reporting and exams• Encouraged time and effort on challenging tasks• Opportunity to use the feedback• Creates learning communities

Hammer, Kell and Spence (2007)• Peer review and feedback on essay in English

with 80 students• Used electronic software Aropä which manages

the anonymous distribution – cf PeerMark• Assessment rubric provided by staff• Marks for participation NOT quality • Set up so that student did not review their own

topic

• Students asked to provide a response to the following: – What issue is the essay addressing?– What is the main argument? Or suggest an

argument– What support does the author offer for the

argument? Suggest a counter-argument– Identify a characteristic sentence in the draft and

suggest how it might be improved

• Student views:– Positive– Doing the review and using the assessment

criteria gave them an insight into how their work was assessed

– Providing feedback would help them become more able to self-assess

– Identified ‘blind spots’ in their own writing and learned from the writing styles of others

DR BJOERN ELSAESSERSCHOOL OF PLANNING, ARCHITECTURE & CIVIL ENGINEERING

USING PEER REVIEW IN HYDRAULICS 4 CIV4026

Content

• Introduction to the topic• Overview of module

• Issues with students’ learning• Student peer review process

• Example reviews• The lecturer’s experience

• Pros & cons• Wider issues with module

• Conclusion

Hydraulics 4 MEng/MSc Civil Eng ½ module in 2nd semester of level 4

35 -20 students-> introduce students to the principles and practice of

advanced fluid mechanics in engineering-> emphasis on environmental problems and

renewable energy systems

12 weeks split into two parts:– ~5 weeks for research of topic and report / lecture

2 weeks peer assessment of above

– 5 weeks applied analysis to engineering problemReporting and presentation

Hydraulics 4 MEng/MSc Civil Eng Topics taught:Hydropower & Tidal power • Turbo machinery in hydropower, types, typical features,

characteristics, key design specifications• Free stream rotors, types, blade element momentum theory,• Design of spillways and overflow structures, • Aspects of hydrodynamic forces on structures in rivers, coasts

and offshoreTransient & two phase flow problems • Transient pipe flows / Surge chambers and overflows,• Sediment transport processes,Hydrodynamics theory• Navier Stokes equation & its application

Deficit of students at level 4

• Reports had been very superficial• Very little evidence based description of topics• Limited number of equations and factual

design guidance• Limited evidence of acquired transferable

knowledge• Heavily criticised by colleagues as “easy”

subject (reflected by student numbers)

AssessmentGroup report / lecture note

Peer review Project / Analysis Presentation

Groups of 2-4 students

One topic

45%

Individual

All other topics

10%

Group as previous

Topic different to previous

35%

Group

On project / analysis

10%

Ongoing consultation with lecturer

Lecturer edited peer feedback

Ongoing consultation with lecturer

Verbal feedback

Feedback

Setting out the peer review

• Students informed at introduction about the peer review process

• Review does not replace tutor’s marking, review forms part of indiv. assessment

• Students are given marking sheet and criteriaTotal marks set out for each criteria

• At review stage process is explained again• Students are asked to review as individual (not in

groups)

Example reviews

The lecturer’s experience• Has worked well and not increased workload• Can provide strong evidence for “freeloaders”• Vehicle to providing feedback to students• Review provide an excellent assessment

matrix• Widened the gap between good and less

adept students?

Assessment matrixName Total number of words in

the assessment Difference between top and lowest score

Student A ~ 2700 words 14.5 marks Student B ~ 2300 words 14 marks Student C ~ 600 words 9.5 marks Student D ~ 600 words 5 marks Student E ~ 450 words 7 marks

peer review – the issues

Pros• Widens knowledge from

one topic to several• Individual mark for

individual students• Good students clearly

identify deficits and apply to their own work

• Quick feedback

Cons• Low grade students left

behind?– Own assessment– Ability to judge good work

from poor– Skim only surface of topic

• Assessment of peer review is summative, no chance to improve

Wider issues in Hydraulics 4

• Varying student number• Varying quality of reports produced• Staff effort• Evidence of enhanced knowledge &

understanding• Widening gap between different grades of

students

Using technology to support peer review

• PeerMark• PeerWise

PeerMark• Part of the Turnitin suite• Students upload work• System can be set up to distribute the papers

randomly and anonymously if required• Includes option for self-review• Can include a rating if peer assessment is wanted• Tutor can see all reviews• Ability to make all reviews available to the group

following the exercise

PeerWise• University of Auckland

http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/ • Free – open source• Staff set up the class• Students asked to register and select nom de plume - • Students write MCQs with appropriate feedback• Students answer and review the questions of their

peers• High level cognitive activity

References

• Hamer, J., Kell, C. and Spence, F. (2007) Peer assessment suing Aropä, Australian Computing Society, available at: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~j-hamer/peer-assessment-using-Aropa.pdf

• Nicol, D (2010) From monologue to dialogue: improving written feedback in mass higher Education Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 35:5, 501-517

• TESTA project http://www.testa.ac.uk/resources/videos