Student experiences of peer review marking of team projects

Peer review of students is a partial response to critics of group work who cite drawbacks of "free riders" and de-motivation. It is often used to motivate and focus students on their own development within a group work setting. Pressures of time, budget and student numbers often obviate deeper study of alternative assessment techniques. The study reported in this paper, made possible by an HEA grant, allowed for analysis of a peer review mechanism that had been operating for a number of years alongside a new web-based system. The paper reviews criticisms of peer review techniques in existing literature and outlines how student experiences of peer review were researched. Qualitative outcomes are discussed alongside an analysis of quantitative data from the systems used. Key conclusions from this research are that the data collection method made no significant difference to the reported student experiences of peer review or to the peer review marks. The findings update and strengthen previous literature and provide important new insights into the emotional perspective of students. The findings from this research are being used to aid development of the webbased system and to establish 'good practice' guidance on the deployment of this valuable and innovative technique

A Bibliometric Analysis Performance Assessment of Science Education on Science Process Skills

This study aims to determine a comprehensive performance assessment of science education using peer assessment and self-assessment to measure scientific process skills. The method of writing article through a literature review that was published from 2010 to 2022, descriptive qualitative and bibliometric analysis was used by the Perish 8 and VOS Viewer software, from 1000 articles sourced from journals, books, conferences, proceedings, and other literature that have been screened on Google Scholar and Scopus databases by the Publish and Perish 8 software. Found 340 articles sourced from journals and only 127 articles indexed by  Scopus, consisting of  64 articles on Q1, 47 articles on Q2, 12 Articles on Q3 and four articles on Q4 to be used as references for further analysis as a literature review to write this articles. The results of the bibliometric study qualitatively found that a comprehensive assessment of performance on science process skills can be assessed through peer assessment and self-assessment. Further analysis with the VOS Viewer application found a relationship between peer assessment and self-assessment of student science process skills

Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of confirmatory data submitted for the active substance methiocarb

<p>The conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) following the peer review of the initial risk assessment carried out by the competent authority of the rapporteur Member State the United Kingdom, for the pesticide active substance methiocarb are reported. The context of the peer review was that requested by the European Commission following the submission and evaluation of confirmatory data on the risk assessment for birds. The conclusions were reached on the basis of the evaluation of the representative use of methiocarb as a molluscicide on oilseed rape. The reliable endpoints concluded as being appropriate for use in regulatory risk assessment, derived from the available studies and literature in the dossier peer reviewed, are presented. Concerns were identified.</p&gt

Authentic Assessment in the Curriculum: Employability & Contemporary Issues within Higher Education Business Schools

Employability is a key component within the curriculum of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with the recently introduced Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) reforms focusing on employability as well as government benchmarking with an emphasis on graduate salary outcomes and value for money. This can potentially have major implications for university business schools as they will face competitive challenges from peer universities and by employers recruiting school and college leavers. Greater use of authentic assessment using reports, business plans, etc. could address the issue. This study will conduct a literature review of authentic assessment in the context of a millennial workforce and employers that are moving away from degree classification as their primary graduate recruitment filtering criterion

Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of confirmatory data submitted for the active substance dichlorprop-P

The conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) following the peer review of the initial risk assessment carried out by the competent authority of the rapporteur Member State Denmark, for the pesticide active substance dichlorprop-P are reported. The context of the peer review was that requested by the European Commission following the submission and evaluation of confirmatory data concerning the risk assessment in the areas of consumer exposure and birds and mammals. The conclusions were reached on the basis of the evaluation of the representative uses of dichlorprop-P as a herbicide on cereals, grassland and grass seed crops. The reliable endpoints concluded as being appropriate for use in regulatory risk assessment, derived from the available studies and literature in the dossier peer reviewed, are presented. Concerns are identified

Peer-review in practice: eight years of Aropä

Articles discussing and analysing student peer-review activities proliferate the educational literature, typically describing one or more class exercises where students provide feedback on each other’s work. These papers usually focus on a peer-review activity designed as a scholarly study, and make conclusions about its success or otherwise. There is not one standard model for ‘peer-review’, and information on the many different assessment designs used is distributed over an increasing number of publications and websites. This paper provides a meta-review of peer-review activities as they are implemented in practice, using configuration data from over a thousand assignments conducted using an online peer-review system during an eight-year period. We present data on the wide variety of assignment designs and the parameters that comprise them, their rubrics, and comparisons between subject areas. Information on the norms and range of all decisions to be made will encourage instructors (both new to and experienced in conducting peer-review activities) to reflect on and justify the choices they make

What Every Economist Should Know about the Evaluation of Teaching: A Review of the Literature

Decades of research consistently show that student evaluations offer limited information on the effectiveness of teaching in economics. Such methods are at best valid for a relatively small set of factors that correlate with "good instruction." Even though some evidence exists that student evaluations are positively correlated with learning, it is clear that strong biases exist. Even though these limitations are well established in the literature and widely believed among faculty, the implementation of alternative or complimentary forms of assessment is notably lacking. The purpose of this paper is to review the current methods used to assess teaching. In the process, the paper proposes a research agenda for economists that aim to assess the reliability and validity of alternative processes such as peer review of teaching. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for departments of economics that are serious about enhancing both formative as well as summative assessments of teaching.Teaching, Peer review of teaching, Student evaluation of teaching

Peer support groups and peer mentoring in refugee adolescents and young adults: A literature review

Peer support and peer mentoring have been used in various contexts as interventions to improve mental health and help people cope with life difficulties. This literature review explores the application of these methods for adolescent refugees. It also attempts to determine the effectiveness of these interventions, the methodology of assessment of their effectiveness and the specific settings where they have been used. We conducted a review of studies that included peer support and peer mentoring interventions for adolescent refugees/asylum seekers. We searched Google Scholar, PUBMED and SCOPUS, for the period from 2011 to September 2021. The review identified only five studies that met our criteria in terms of demographic characteristics and type of intervention. Four of the five studies used only qualitative methods for their assessment. Only one of them used quantitative methods to determine the intervention’s effectiveness. The settings included schools, universities, and other general community spaces. The refugee status varied between asylum seekers and refugee status. There is a need for more rigorous and methodologically consistent research, using more quantitative methods to enable clearer comparison of evidence-based results. The usefulness of peer mentoring and peer support should also be explored in more contexts, such as in Reception and Identification Centers for asylum seekers. Despite these shortcomings of the current literature, all the reviewed papers outline a positive impact of the interventions on young refugees’ lives in terms of mental health benefits, coping with life difficulties, or gaining access to valuable resources

Perceptions of and Satisfaction with Sexual and Reproductive Health Interventions in Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent Students in UE/EEA Countries: A Systematic Review

: The objective of this review is to investigate perceptions of and satisfaction with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) interventions among pre-adolescents and adolescents of all genders and ethnicities in EU/EEA countries. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA recommendations. A systematic literature search was conducted on MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PsycINFO (EBSCO) up to March 2022 to identify all published articles that included information on perceptions and levels of satisfaction with SRH interventions. The selected studies were independently and blindly evaluated for risk of bias. Finally, only five papers were included in our review, divided according to the implemented intervention design: conducted by research groups (health or non-health professionals) or structured entirely in a peer-to-peer approach. Both types of program designs analyzed in the included studies were well accepted by students, even though satisfaction assessment methods were not standardized. Peer-to-peer conducted SRH programs or interventions with practical components (e.g., exercises, discussion) were more appreciated. We also found higher levels of satisfaction among younger participants. Future SRH educational programs should consider an assessment of participants' perceptions and satisfaction, possibly adopting standardized tools. Following a peer-to-peer structure and delivering programs early could lead to greater participant satisfaction

The impact of online peer assessment on student learning in higher education: A systematic review of literature

In recent years, the educational processes and scenarios have slowly aimed at empowering the students with 21st century skills as well as core competencies required for career readiness [1]. This means shifting focus from a knowledge-based to a competency-based curriculum which promotes the development of skills such as autonomy, responsibility, critical thinking, and self-awareness. At the same time, with the accelerated digital transformation, technology is expected to occupy an unprecedented position in classrooms. Learning assessment practices must respond to this combination of circumstances. A new evaluation culture [2] has emerged where the student is an active participant and this is expected to produce a positive impact on students’ educational outcomes and cognitive development. Studies on alternative digital assessment [3] [4] indicate that an important contribution to the development of lifelong learning skills and sustainable assessment practices is Online Peer Assessment (OPA). “Peer assessment (also called peer review) is a collaborative learning technique based on a critical analysis by learners of a task or artefact previously undertaken by peers” (p.72) [5]. Beyond the grading procedure, the literature emphasizes the active and self-regulatory learning process enhancing student critical thinking and fostering the development of essential professional skills. To understand the importance of OPA in higher education, a systematic review of literature was carried out considering the following research question: In what dimensions could OPA, as an alternative digital assessment practice, impact student learning in higher education? A literature search was conducted in the online portal B-on and SCOPUS database, restricted to the years 2017 to 2021. Only peer-reviewed studies published in English or Portuguese and with full-text access were taken into consideration. Through a rigorous documented systematic literature review scoping process [6], studies were screened and analyzed. Findings were divided into two main categories which provide evidence on the positive impact of OPA on enhanced student learning. On the one hand, the implementation of OPA in higher education is an effective assessment technique which stimulates student performance and facilitates the acquisition of knowledge, while fostering self-awareness and critical thinking and improving metacognitive and collaborative skills. On the other hand, students are generally motivated to participate in OPA, acknowledging the several benefits presented. The creation of OPA contexts in higher education is strongly encouraged based on the results of these studies.This work is funded by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, projects UIDB/01661/2020 and UIDP/01661/2020, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT