Improve student participation in peer assessment to influence learning outcomes: a case study

Abstract

A variety of technology enhanced teaching strategies and learning activities have been applied in education, including assessment mechanisms. In this paper, we aim to examine the extent to which peer assessment promotes deep learning and favours the incremental learning of the concepts presented throughout a traditional introductory programming course. In particular, we want to examine how the enactment of the peer-assessor and peer-assessee roles is associated with students’ learning improvements, after enacting reciprocal peer assessment. We illustrate a case study based on a novel web-based peer assessment tool to improve engagement and learning outcomes in a programming course. We want to assess whether programming skills are growing through peer review and whether exposure to different programming techniques is helpful to students. One of the most remarkable findings of our experience was that students reported that assessing others’ work was an extremely valuable learning activity.