1. Institute for Learning Innovation and Development
Using online peer assessment tools to provide feedback and promote learning January 2017

2. Peer review
Peer assessment
formative
summative

3. Why use peer review? Increases student responsibility and autonomy
Exposes them to others students’ work
Builds their understanding of assessment criteria
Develops their self-evaluation skills
Encourages deep learning
Can generate effective, relevant feedback
Can provide more timely feedback
Peer assessment
Can reduce the tutor’s marking load

4. “
it is arguable that the act of constructing feedback is more important for learning and development than the receipt of feedback from others ”
Nicol, D (2010) The foundation for graduate attributes: developing self-regulation through self and peer assessment. Published by The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

5. What challenges does it present?
Marking criteria need to be extremely clear
Students need to develop their marking skills
Exemplars of excellent, good and poor work are needed
Students may initially lack confidence
Students may be reluctant to make judgements
There is a risk of favouritism or discrimination
Peer assessment
Grades and feedback may be considered unreliable
Tutors may be seen as ‘not doing their job’

6. Selected resources
The University of Strathclyde's PEER project contains useful information and guidance on peer review (
Professor David Nicol's paper developing students' ability to construct feedback forms part of the University of Strathclyde's PEER project
Deakin University, Institute of Teaching and Learning guide to peer and self assessment

7. Peer Review and Assessment systems
Blackboard – peer assessment tool
Turnitin – PeerMark
PeerGrade
Peer Review of Teamwork
WebPA – tested but rejected
iSurvey and Excel
TEAMMATES
eFolio

8. Blackboard – peer assessment tool
Tutor specifies questions, criteria, marking scheme and dates
Tutor chooses number of submissions each student must review, plus anonymity and self-evaluation options
Students type answers to one or more questions
File upload is possible but problematic
Peers use the criteria specified to grade each question
Peers can also type feedback for selected questions
Students view their grade and feedback

9. Turnitin – PeerMark Tutor creates Turnitin assignment
Tutor creates a PeerMark assignment and chooses the number of submissions each student must review, plus anonymity option
Papers can be distributed automatically and/or students can choose
The tutor can also assign or exclude reviewers
Self-review can be a required option
The tutor creates one or more questions – free text or scale
Students answer these questions for each submission
The tutor can review and edit grades and feedback, and add their own grades/feedback if required
The tutor can grade the peer reviews given by students
Guides/Turnitin_Classic_for_Instructors/23_PeerMark