Self and peer assessment tips

Self and Peer assessment may not be a known practice to all students, therefore it may be useful to consider at the planning stage some of the issues that students may raise and devise the best way to resolve them. Some of the most common issues are listed below with some hints, tips and suggestions.

Student resistance to undertake marking because they see it as a tutor’s role or/and responsibility.

Provide information about the pedagogical value of the exercise and reassure students that monitoring procedures will be in place at every stage of the workflow.

Lack of student commitment to complete the exercise.

Instructions should include a list of all the stages of the workflow and a clear timescale of the process together with deadlines and the responsibility towards the exercise. Stress to students that failure to complete tasks as required this will affect other members of the group.

Student inexperience with marking criteria/rubrics/ or providing appropriate constructive feedback.

Criteria can be either given by the tutor or devised by the students; in either case students must have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the criteria before starting the exercise or to discuss them with the tutor. Providing appropriate peer feedback is a key aspect in peer assessment and it’s important that students learn how to provide constructive feedback as well as feedback etiquette. See Dr Phil Langton's guidance for some ideas.

Students lacking skills or confidence in using the peer assessment system.

Provide a brief introductory session to demonstrate the system and answer questions.