Peer assessment is crucial in higher education

Today, the teachers’ role has changed from a ‘sage on stage’ to that of a ‘guide by side’ in higher education. The focus is on autonomy and empowerment, where the teacher is a facilitator with a responsibility to create a congenial environment for better learning. The learning process happens at three levels — teachers, peers and self.

According to studies, in a Business School, only around 20% of the learning happens with teachers and the rest through self-learning and peer learning. In this context, the concept and practice of peer assessment assumes importance. 

According to the US-based educationist Benjamin Bloom, the lower level of cognitive skills comprises knowledge associated with an ability to recall, and at the next level progresses to comprehension and eventually application of knowledge. The higher order cognitive skills of learners involves an ability to analyse, synthesise, evaluate and create knowledge. Business Schools assess the higher order cognitive skills of learners through various assignments or projects, and faculty members play a key role in providing formative feedback on the academic work.
 
However, it becomes a daunting task for the faculty members to give a detailed feedback on the work of students and its timely completion. A possible solution to grade assignments on time and ensure that students learn from the exercise is through peer assessment. Undoubtedly, the teachers play a main role in conceptualising the peer assessment process and ensuring objectivity. The students then assess and grade their peers’ assignments based on the teacher’s guidelines.

While the process saves teacher’s time, it increases the self-worth of students and helps them evolve into responsible adults. Also assessment of a peer’s work enables them to get insights into the thought processes of others. As a student progresses on the learning ladder, no two views need to be similar. Therefore a synthesis of an individual’s views with that of peers only helps enrich the thought process. The use of technology in the peer assessment process makes it more robust and dynamic.

For instance, faculty members can use a learning management system (LMS) to administer a peer-based assessment. The assessment involves the following steps:

The faculty member prepares a detailed guideline for assignments, clearly indicating the learning objectives, the analysis to be done and the expected learning outcome.

Each student prepares the assignment as per the guidelines and submits them.

The student assignments are allotted randomly to ‘n’ number of students say, three students will evaluate an assignment of a student. The ‘n’ here depends on the strength of the class.

The faculty member creates a rubric of each parameter with different scales. The question in the rubric is very specific with uniquely identifiable scale and the student assessor only selects the scale.

The student assessors also get grades for assessment and it is calculated based on how close the grade they give matches with that of others.

The faculty member can now check a few assignments, review the comments of student evaluators and check if they have done a proper review of an assignment. Thus, all students would be compelled to take their assessment exercise seriously.

If peer assessment tasks are taken seriously, then learners understand how they have performed in comparison with their peers and obtain perspectives of their fellow learners. Thus, a learning management system helps simplify peer evaluation.

Most Massive Open Online Courses  (MOOCs) follow this peer evaluation model as it is impossible for facilitators to grade assignments of a large group of students. The same concept can be applied to traditional classrooms synergising traditional and contemporary learning styles.

(The author is assistant professor, Christ University, Bengaluru)