Anonymity as an instructional scaffold in peer assessment : its effects on peer feedback quality and evolution in students’ perceptions about peer assessment skills

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in European Journal of Psychology of Education 33.1 (2018): 75-99. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0339-8Although previous research has indicated that providing anonymity is an effective way to create a safe peer assessment setting, continuously ensuring anonymity prevents students from experiencing genuine two-way interactive feedback dialogues. The present study investigated how installing a transitional approach from an anonymous to a non-anonymous peer assessment setting can overcome this problem. A total of 46 bachelor’s degree students in Educational Studies participated in multiple peer assessment cycles in which groups of students assessed each other’s work. Both students’ evolution in peer feedback quality as well as their perceptions were measured. The content analysis of the peer feedback messages revealed that the quality of peer feedback increased in the anonymous phase, and that over time, the feedback in the consecutive non-anonymous sessions was of similar quality. The results also indicate that the transitional approach does not hinder the perceived growth in peer feedback skills, nor does it have a negative impact on their general conceptions towards peer assessment. Furthermore, students clearly differentiated between their attributed importance of anonymity and their view on the usefulness of a transitional approach. The findings suggest that anonymity can be a valuable scaffold to ease students’ importance level towards anonymity and their associated need for practiceThe first author’s research was funded by Ghent University BOF fund number BOF13/24J/115. The second author’s research was funded by the Spanish Ramón y Cajal program number RYC-2013-1346

'Now you know what you’re doing right and wrong!' Peer feedback quality in synchronous peer assessment in secondary education

This study explores the effects of peer assessment (PA) practice on peer feedback (PF) quality of 11th grade secondary education students (N= 36). The PA setting was synchronous: anonymous assessors gave immediate PF using mobile response technology during 10 feedback occasions. The design was quasi-experimental (experimental vs. control condition) in which students in one condition received a scaffold to filter out relevant information they received. It was expected that this filter-out scaffold would influence PF quality in subsequent tasks in which they were assessors. PF content analysis showed that offering multiple PF occasions improved PF quality: messages contained more negative verifications and informative and suggestive elaborations after the intervention. However, no effects were found of filtering out relevant information on PF quality. Moreover, students’ perceived peer feedback skills improved which was in correspondence with their actual quality improvement over time. Additionally, the perceived usefulness of the received feedback was rated high by all participants

Pre-service teachers as designers in the context of advertising literacy education

The present study describes how teacher design teams (TDTs) in pre-service education were set up to create in-school programs about advertising. A multiple case-study design was employed to reveal what kinds of input-, process-, and output-related factors facilitate or hinder the collaboration of three voluntarily participating teams of pre-service teachers. By combining pre-TDT questionnaire data with an analysis of audiorecorded team design discussions and reflective data collected after the design process, we found that the participating student teachers (1) were unfamiliar with design assignments at the start of the project, but were all intrinsically motivated to take part; (2) especially express practical concerns when designing learning materials, and (3) argue that TDTs positively contribute to their professional development. As this study revealed both facilitating and hindering factors, recommendations for future organization of and research on TDTs in pre-service education are offered

Peer assessment use, its social nature challenges and perceived educational value : a teachers’ survey study

The implementation of peer assessment (PA) in the classroom faces considerable interpersonal challenges. In this quantitative survey study (N = 225) we focus on the current use and format of PA among secondary education teachers in Flanders and explore teachers’ awareness of these interpersonal challenges. We validated an instrument for measuring teachers’ awareness which was then used to investigate how this awareness level relates to their conceptions of the educational value of PA. SEM results show that teachers are slightly to moderately aware with regard to their students’ concerns about the impact of interpersonal processes in PA as well as the importance students attribute to anonymity within PA. This study illustrates that teachers’ perceived accuracy of PA is a major predictor of their belief in its educational value and opens up a new avenue for research on teachers’ awareness of interpersonal processes in PA

Anonieme face-to-face peer assessment en feedback via Mobile Response Technology: een verkenning van interpersoonlijke variabelen en twee types docentbegeleiding

Er is groeiend bewijs dat interpersoonlijke processen de resultaten van peer assessment en feedbackpraktijken negatief kunnen beïnvloeden. Om hieraan tegemoet te komen wordt vaak voorgesteld om anonimiteit te bieden aan de beoordelaars. Deze studie focust op de percepties van studenten ten opzichte van anonimiteit en interpersoonlijke processen (bv. vriendjespolitiek) in een face-to-face-omgeving. Hierbij wordt gebruikt gemaakt van Mobile Response Technology, waarbij de beoordeling en feedback live anoniem geprojecteerd worden. Om de rol van de docent in een dergelijke setting te verkennen werden twee condities gecreëerd. De resultaten geven aan dat studenten de anonieme setting als erg positief hebben ervaren, en hierin de beoordeling en feedback van de leerkracht als een noodzakelijke aanvulling zien op die van peers

The interpersonal nature of interactions in peer assessment: focus on anonymity and students' personality

In peer assessment and feedback activities, students’ perceptions towards interpersonal variables (for example friendship marking, fear of disapproval when giving low scores, distrust in own and others’ evaluative capabilities) can be decisive when students interpret assessment and feedback from peers, since it might negatively affect the outcomes of the activity. Furthermore, it is assumed that students’ perceptions concerning interpersonal variables in the peer assessment process are influenced by their personal characteristics. Therefore, classroom interventions that acknowledge the dispositions of students and the power of peers in this process are needed. To decrease possible negative social effects, guaranteeing anonymity for the assessors has been explored. In this quasi-experimental study with 39 third-year bachelor students in Educational Studies, Mobile Response Technology (MRT) has been implemented which enables automatized data gathering of quantitative assessment and qualitative feedback. This study explores (1) secondary students’ perceptions towards the new tool within an anonymous face-to-face peer assessment setting and (2) students’ perceptions towards interpersonal variables. Moreover,(3) the relationship between the interpersonal variables and students’ personality factors is studied. This study shows that MRT is an easy-to-use tool for facilitating face-to-face peer assessment practices since it offers the opportunity for immediate assessment and feedback, which is highly appreciated by students. Furthermore, providing anonymity to peer assessors results in positive perceptions towards interpersonal variables that might negatively affect the outcomes of the assessment activity. The present findings also point at the importance of considering students’ personality factors in future studies on the implementation of likewise formative assessment activities