Peer and self assessment

Creating assignment briefs and marking criteria that are clear and explicit for all students can be a challenge. Students may interpret the language in a different way to the one we intended. A typical example of this is the use of the word 'critical'. In everyday language, we associate the term with criticism and it often has negative connotations. However, in academic terms we might be asking our students to consider a range of evidence and to consider the validity and reliability of evidence. (For a fuller discussion on critical thinking in higher education see the Higher Education Academy website.)

Interpretation of language can always be problematic, so what teaching and learning techniques can we employ to help students understand what is required?

One approach is the use of peer and self assessment (assessment here means assessing the quality of the student work). We use peer assessment on this course to help you understand the standards expected and to encourage dialogue with fellow participants. We strongly encourage you to self assess your work on this course. Badges for each of the activities are self-assessed.

The topic of peer and self-assessment could be an entire 5 week course on its own so for this week's topic we recommend taking a pragmatic approach. For your own work, we suggest you engage with the assignment brief and marking criteria. For your own teaching practice, we suggest reading the Higher Education Academy Guide to Self- and Peer- Assessment. You may find the case studies (starting on page 39) particularly helpful for developing your practice. The focus of this guide are the sciences but the ideas can easily be adapted for other subject areas.