Peer Review as a Tool for Person-Centered Learning: Computer Science Education at Secondary School Level

Abstract

Using peer assessment in the classroom in order to increase student engagement by actively involving them in the assessment process has been practiced and researched for decades. The literature suggests using peer review for project-based exercises. This paper analyzes the applicability of peer assessment to smaller exercises at secondary school level and makes recommendations for its use in computer science courses. For this purpose, two secondary school classes consisting of a total of 57 students were introduced to the peer assessment method within the scope of the same software engineering course. Two of 13 exercises were assessed using peer reviews via the Moodle workshop activity. The students were asked to evaluate these two exercises using an anonymous online questionnaire. At the end of the course, they were asked to rate all of the 13 exercises regarding their motivation to learn. Overall, the anonymous feedback on the peer review exercises was very positive. It has shown that the students not only obtained more feedback, but also received it in a timelier manner compared to regular teacher assessment. The results of the overall rating of all 13 exercises regarding the motivation to learn revealed that the two peer reviewed exercises have been rated distinctly better than the average of the other eleven exercises only assessed by the teacher. Evidence therefore suggests that peer reviews are a viable option for small- and medium-sized exercises in the context of computer science education at secondary school level under certain conditions.