Peer-Assessment Peer-Assessment Peer-assessment refers to the assessment of students by other students and is another mode of assessment associated with the use of active learning. Instructors ask students to assess each other, particularly when working in a group (Baker, 2008). As with observations, peer-assessments are based on the behaviors of others and use some type of recording tool like a checklist, inventory, rating scale, or rubric developed from the learning objectives to guide the assessment. The most common types of peer-assessments are rating scales and a single score method (Baker, 2008). Despite occasional student discomfort with peer-assessment, it has been found to produce peer judgments that are comparable to those of the instructor (Patri, 2002). Matsuno (2009) found that peer-assessors were less biased than self- and instructor-assessors and were internally consistent in their ratings. Peer-assessment can benefit the learning for the student receiving the feedback as well as the student conducting the assessment (Patri, 2002). It promotes reflection and higher order thinking as students develop skills in evaluating and justifying the decisions they make (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2007a). In addition, peer-assessment can be a “real world” exercise, as supervisors are required to evaluate their employees in professional work settings. Peer- and self-assessments are often undertaken together because assessing the work of other students helps students to reflect on their own work and learn more effectively (Cheng and Warren, 2005; Matsuno, 2009).
The quality of peer-assessment is dependent on the quality of the tools, support given by the instructor, guiding questions that are asked, and the consistency of engagement in the assessment process (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2007a). An example of a well-developed assessment tool comes from Cheng and Warren (2005) (see Figure 2). Though used in an English language program for undergraduate engineering students, the tool could be used for oral presentations in any university course with little or no revision.