Peer assessment effects on the self-assessment process of first-year undergraduates

Abstract

Peers carry potential in enhancing students’ self-assessment development, but few studies have explored how peer scaffolding is enacted in the process. This qualitative study explores peer assessment effects on the self-assessment process of 11 first-year undergraduates and the factors limiting peer influence. Drawing on the data from students’ journals, follow-up interviews, observations of in-class formative peer assessment activities and teacher interviews, we ascertained that peers could aid the self-assessment process by enriching student understanding of quality, refining subjective judgement and deepening self-reflection. Yet, peer influence could be reduced by distrust, tensions in feedback communication, competition and lack of readiness for peer learning. Implications for effective use of peers in supporting self-assessment development are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer assessment effects
• self-assessment process
• first-year undergraduates

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by Faculty Research Fund, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China.

Notes on contributors

Jessica To

Jessica To is a post-doctoral Fellow at Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She is interested in investigating feedback, exemplar use and issues related to the implementation of formative assessment i higher education.

Ernesto Panadero

Ernesto Panadero is a researcher at the Developmental and Educational Psychology Department, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (funded by the Ramón y Cajal research program - 2013 call). He is also an honorary professor at Deakin University (Australia) at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning.