Effective Learning Through Peer Review (Does Student Peer Review Help to Improve Essay and Exam Technique? Reflections on innovative practice on a Year 2 International Politics module.)

The Peer Review Assessment: Educational Design Why peer review? Research-driven pedagogy Building on good practice and student feedback (Year 4 Hons Political Islam module) Aligns with LTAS principles and UWS strategies Why this module? To increase academic performance in general and academic writing in particular Large cross-campus International Politics module offering a site for multi-campus delivery and staff collaboration 2 nd Year module, so ideally-placed to introduce peer review to students, facilitating their engagement with feedback Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

Assessment Regime Turnitin Peermark was adopted as the delivery mechanism. Students were randomly assigned two anonymised submissions followed by their own. Students were asked to give focused feedback on these using a specialised rubric. Students were encouraged to reflect on and incorporate the feedback they deemed most useful from the comments received from this process. Engagement was incentivised by the automatic assignment of 10% marks towards their final submission on completion of this exercise. Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

Student Instructions Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA, Nottingham,

Student results Year Campus Hamilton (N=59) Paisley (N=96) Hamilton (N=47) Paisley (N=55) Hamilto n (N=45) Paisley (N=69) GradeEssayExamEssayExamEssayExamEssayExamEssayExamEssayExam A B B C Fail Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

Focus Group Feedback (N=10) Very positive student experience Made students think about essay structure/what staff looked for A couple of students very sceptical “they weren’t qualified to do this” – after peer review revised this, finding it “educational” and “very worthwhile” All expressed a desire for this type of assessment in future modules Quality of feedback deemed relatively unimportant – reflective element that proved most useful One important finding – commenting on structure, grammar and spelling – not equipped to do this, especially for those with enabling support needs – oversight by teaching team which has been addressed Students as ‘partners in assessment design’ Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

Evaluating Results Initial indications highlighted an improvement in the exam performance (noticeably with the ‘tail’/distribution of grades at the C/D level) This could be due to: cohort effect/peer review/other Moodle interventions/multi-factorial interplay Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

Conclusion: Reflections and suggestions For colleagues seeking to harness student peer review: Encourage and reward student participation in the peer review process, which will promote partnerships in learning The importance of ‘story-boarding’ the process for students, especially in terms of how it works on the VLE If using VLE for peer assessment and feedback allow long ‘lead-in’ for systems testing and fixing any glitches that occur The need to set aside class time (and an increase in traffic) to deal with student queries Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA

References Anonymous, 'Peer Assessment', Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) online at: (accessed 6/6/13) Bostock S (2001) 'Student Peer Assessment' The Higher Education Academy, HE Academy Resources Database Boud D, Cohen R, Sampson J Peer Learning and Assessment Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education Vol 24 No pp Dochy F, Segers M, & Siujsmans D 'The use of self-, peers and co-assessment in Higher Education: a Review', Studies in Higher Education, 24: pp Evans C Making Sense of Assessments in HE Review of Educational Research March 2013 Vol 83 No 1 pp Falchikov N, Goldfinch J Student and Peer Assessment in HE: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Peer and Teacher Marks Review of Educational Research Fall 2000 Vol 70 No 3 pp Hanrahan S, Isaacs G Assessing Self-and Peer- Assessment: the students’ views Higher Education Research and Development Vol 20 No pp53-70 Healey M, Flint A, & Harrington K ‘Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education’, HEA July accessed 27/8/14 accessed 27/8/14 Read B, Francis B and Robson J, ''Playing Safe': undergraduate essay writing and the presentation of the student 'voice'', British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22:3 2001, pp Veitch and Pugh, Effective Learning Through Peer Review, PSA/BISA