Self and Peer Assessment
Giving students the opportunity to assess themselves can help them take responsibility for their own learning and support the development of intellectual independence. Self assessment can help gauge a student’s conceptual knowledge, skills, abilities, self-efficacy attitudes, and values; and may help students identify their own strengths, weaknesses, and gaps.
If using a rubric, instructors might wish to involve students in the scoring process. For example, an instructor might have students score themselves before entering a conversation about how he or she would score them; the conversation can focus on areas of discrepancy. The instructor might decide then to alter his or her own score in some cases, and in other cases, might take the opportunity to clarify expectations.
Evidence suggests that giving students a role in developing the criteria against which they will measure their own success affords them even greater ownership over their learning. Criteria development can look a little like a negotiation process, where some of the instructor’s basic standards for success serve as a starting point around which the student’s personal objectives can be defined. And this helps each student account for his/her personal baseline of knowledge upon entering the course or program. Even when students help develop the criteria, they may need guidance in applying it.
A simple process, clearly defined criteria, and enough time allotted for conversations with students can help make self-assessment a positive and effective method.
References
- Panadero, E., Jonsson, A., & Botella, J. (2017). Effects of self-assessment on self-regulated learning and self-efficacy: Four meta-analyses. Educational Research Review, 22, 74-98.
- Peer and self assessment in student work: principles and criteria
- Nulty, D. D. A Guide to Peer and Self Assessment.
- McMillan, J. H., & Hearn, J. (2008). Student self-assessment: The key to stronger student motivation and higher achievement. Educational Horizons,87(1), 40-49.
Peer assessment is an important developmental tool, not only for the person being assessed, but for the peer assessor as well. The ability to discern strengths and weaknesses, and to offer strategies and solutions for improvement, are important skills for students to develop. Many students also appreciate the opportunity to share their thoughts about a peer’s performance and quality of work with the instructor, particularly when the peers have been working together in a group setting. Ideally, peers will be assessed using the same criteria that individuals might use to assess themselves.
In a creative setting, peer assessment may also be an invaluable form of authentic assessment.