Student Assessment of the Work of Another Student - Essay Example

Student assessment of the work of another student, especially formative, has a positive influence on the learning capability of the student assessee and the assessor. Peer assessment is significant to learning because it encourages and enhances student reasoning capacity and independence. The weakness of this form of assessment can be avoided with teacher moderation. Peer assessment is a form of peer teaching which in turn leads to the development of evaluation and assessment skills. It positively influences the student-learning experience via the provision of instant feedback (Rowntree, 1977).

            Peer assessment is conducted because it produces viable feedback and has probable merits in student achievement. For instance, peer assessment can assist self-assessment in the sense that students have the chance to judge their academic work; students attain insight into their performance after getting feedback from their friends. In addition, peer- assessment assists students to develop rational judgment, which is a vital skill for professional life and study (Moon, 2002).

             A good example of formative peer assessment is the study conducted among bachelors students perusing computer science. Twenty students created a web application on a topic that self-interest for 30% of the final grade marks. Each student was required to present his or her application on their respective web space, from which six student assessors offered a formative assessment as text analysis and percentage marks awarded against other students' criteria (Biggs, 1999).

            The anonymity of the author was impossible since the web applications incorporated their login names but the student assessors were anonymous because code numbers were utilized to assess. After attaining anonymous assessments and reviews of their work, students were given time to enhance it, and the final work was presented on web spaces on a strict deadline. The same assessor, giving the marks directly to the teacher for moderation purposes, conducted a Summative of the same web addresses. The teacher went through and remarked on all the work. Ten students returned the anonymous assessments and evaluations. For most of these students, formative assessment has been useful to them. Further, they valued text feedback more than marks. Some students argued that by viewing other students' work, they felt it was more valuable. The main challenge with summative assessment was that some students failed to sit for the final examination but it was useful for the formative assessment, as they were able to improve on their weak areas.

            Feedback is very essential in peer assessment because comprehensive, quality, and timely feedback is very influential in encouraging student learning. To enhance opportunities for good feedback, it is significant to ensure that the assessment offers feedback to students on their work progress toward the attainment of learning objectives and outcomes. Feedback will offer students an opportunity to recognize what they have achieved and how they have been performing (Race, 2002). Further, it will ensure that students have a chance to enhance or improve weak areas as well as justify their final marks of summative assessment. To provide opportunities for students, feedback should be timely since if it is provided when summative assessment is near, it will not help the students because the work is already done and they have moved to the next task.

            There are possible challenges in the peer assessment process. For instance, difficulties arise with the reliability and validity of peer assessment. In the case of peer review, some students feel that feedback from their fellow students is not valuable and accurate. This is somehow hard to improve because the student’s judgment is hard to change since it depends on many variables affecting the learning of students in that particular field. Further, there is a big challenge in the formative assessment offering grades, and less agreement on its value (Biggs, 1999). This is attributed to the doubt in the accuracy of a student since some students tend to under-mark the work of their fellow students. Further, in peer assessment, there is the need to recognition of the emotional element such as negative sentiments and feelings that does not concern learning in assessing the works of the peers. This kind of assessment is faced with the issue of valuable and accurate judgments since there is collusion in giving marks or grades without appropriate reason (Dunlap & Grabinger, 2003).

             Peer assessment can be problematic because some students may be resistant to it because they feel that they lack the experience to review and assess the work of their fellow students, some of them have no self-confidence and are not in a position to make significant judgments on the work of their peers, thus giving inaccurate feedback. The feedback in peer assessment may be compromised in the sense that students may want to settle old problems with their friends and award them low marks, and negative judgment. In addition, via friendship and loyalty, students award higher grades or marks to their friends than warranted (McKeachie, 2007).

            To have a successful peer assessment, each criterion, case, and evidence must be considered. This is because the objectivity and clarity of peer assessment criteria will decide the success of the assessment process. The tutor or teacher should prepare the teacher well for the exercise to assist overcome potential challenges. It is also significant to incorporate students in offering feedback as a secure introduction to peer assessment practice. The tutor should also make sure that students are given enough time to perform this process since they have no immense experience in such a task.