Self-assessment and peer-assessment are very important for improving your work. The problem is, that usually when we reread our own writing, we believe that it is perfect – that is why we need someone else to assess it afterward. It often happens, that your peers give you clearer advice because they are on your level. In fact, this is also the reason why some students need peer assessment – they might be scared of the teacher’s feedback, and it’s often easier to accept your peers’ ideas and advice. Peers assessment also helps to become active learners instead of being passive ones which leads to gaining more knowledge and skills needed in the modern collaborative world. Many universities start using this system because it has too many advantages – from learning how to express one’s thoughts to building and honing critical thinking skills.
University of the People is an online university which means that there are no offline lectures and classes. Students get all the knowledge online and peer assessment is a very suitable system for this type of learning – many online courses already use it as the only way to grade students. Some people might be insulted by a lower grade than (as they believe) deserved, but if this lower grade is fair and the review explains what was wrong and how we can improve it, this situation teaches us to accept bad feedbacks and it is a very important skill to be able to improve. “I can become better and they can also become better from reading my work” (JFF, 2013). I think, that most (if not all) American universities pay special attention to building critical thinking skills and the University of the People is not the exception. Being able to receive and accept the feedback, whether it’s a positive or a negative one, as well as the ability to give constructive feedback yourself and collaborate with others is very important for our future lives.
There are several challenges you can encounter while giving and receiving feedback. First of all, the comment should be constructive – this means, that saying that you like or dislike someone’s work is not enough, you must explain what exactly is good or bad. Sometimes students simply don’t know how to express themselves and giving feedback can become really challenging. Another problem is, that nobody (normally) wants to offend anyone, so choosing words – and then trying to carefully share your thoughts about someone’s work – can be very hard. As I mentioned above, we usually believe that our work is perfect: this makes receiving (and accepting) feedbacks very challenging. Some students might think that their peers are jealous and won’t take feedback seriously, though they will take a lower grade as a personal insult. That is why if there is a peer assessment, there should be constructive rules on how to assess. To be able to give and receive good feedbacks, we need to be able to manage our impulsivity and think interdependently, with clarity and precision.
There are several strategies on how to provide high-quality feedback. I prefer the “Ladder of Feedback” method: first, you need to clarify, then value, then state concerns and, finally, make suggestions for improvements. It is a good plan of actions, where you ask questions to understand the work fully, express what you like or dislike, share your concerns in a kindly way and suggest how to improve: the author of the work will feel that you really read his writing assignment thoroughly and it will be easy to understand what were the weak points and how to make it better next time. There is a huge difference between “I don’t like something about your work, there are no details” with “C” and “Can you tell me more about (this thing) you mentioned? How does it work? I wonder if we can use (another thing) to do the same. What, if…” with “C”, again.
Honestly, in my case, the problem is that I truly am a very generous grader. If I see a bad work that doesn’t have enough words and there is a lack of details, I can add 1 or 2 points while rating and the grade will be, e.g.., 8 instead of 6. I will write feedback, trying to get some more information from another student and mention what was good or bad, but I want to motivate others to write more next time, instead of killing their mood and attitude.
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References
University of the People. Collaborative and peer to peer learning. Retrieved from https://www.uopeople.edu/student-experience/quality/collaborative-peer-peer-learning/
Michigan Virtual. (2017, March 13). Module 3: Peer Assessment. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hRu5i-gfXo
JFF. (2013, August 22). Peer Assessment: Reflections from Students and Teachers. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqWCJZH8ziQ
This is well explained and detailed.