Final Deliverables
23 Peer Evaluations
Peer evaluations are defined as:
”… an arrangement for learners to consider and specify the level, value or quality of a product or performance of other equal-status learners” (Topping, 2009).
Peer evaluations involve: instructors developing a set of success criteria; presenting these criteria to students and discussing them; allowing the students to mark or comment on each other’s work based on the criteria; giving feedback to their peers either orally or in writing. These are not easy tasks and students need to learn how to develop the necessary skills to become reliable assessors and partners in the assessment process,2014).
Importance of Peer Evaluations
Several research studies suggest that peer assessment can improve the quality of learning (Black et al., 2005; Topping, 2009); encourage deep, rather than surface learning (Harrison & Harlen, 2006); provide valuable insight into student understanding so that teachers can learn more about their students and lead to greater autonomy of the learners (Orsmond, 2004).
Through receiving and giving feedback students learn from each other, and also learn the skills of self-evaluation, observation and communication. Students become ‘informed insiders rather than passive victims of the assessment process’ 2014).
