Self and peer assessment of student contributions to group work: Designing, implementing and evaluating a confidential web based system

The approach used in the program is based on published research (Goldfinch 1990, 1994) of a well designed and evaluated paper based system in which students rated each other's contributions and the lecturer used the ratings to calculate adjustments to individual marks. The web based approach has two main advantages compared with the paper based approach. For students, it improves confidentiality and familiarity with assessment criteria as it enables them to change their ratings as often as they wish until a pre-determined cutoff date. For staff, it saves time by automating the process of calculating self and peer adjustments of assessment grades, enabling the system to be used in subjects with large enrolments. As more universities support student learning on and off campus via the web, a web based system aligns very well with the use of online teams as well face to face ones.

Development of this system was funded by CUTSD and based on prototype developed, implemented and evaluated in the Business Faculty at UTS. The aim of the project was to make the system adaptable for different types of group activities and assessment criteria and to automate the processes of collecting and analysing ratings. The initial project team included a programmer and academic staff from three discipline areas and the academic development unit. Project management and meeting records were maintained online in a computer mediated communication environment which was accessible to all team members. The system was designed to encourage students to learn more about the characteristics of effective teamwork as well as enabling identification of different levels of team contribution.

In 1999, the system was trialed and evaluated in several different subjects with different kinds of assessment tasks in the discipline areas of Business, Law and Engineering. Class sizes ranged from 20 to 900. Evaluation processes included: questionnaires to students incorporating questions about usability, reactions to the system and learning about teamwork; student focus groups conducted face to face, by phone and email; reflective diaries and notes kept by project team members, and the web based project management records.

Evaluation findings suggested that most students appreciated the confidentiality of the system, felt that they had been able to give honest responses and felt that the system was a fair way of assessing team contributions. However there was considerable variation across the different subjects. This paper will present three brief case studies which describe the different uses of the system, the responses of staff and students and the lessons learned. The differences point to the potential usefulness of the system. More critically however, the differences provide qualitative evidence of the important role of the teacher's intentions and approaches in helping students to understand the purpose of the system and use it productively.