Student peer assessment: Research findings from a case study in a master of chemical engineering coursework-program

Results from a case study of student peer assessment, as an alternate learning activity to traditional lecturer- and tutor-assessments, in a two-year, Master of Chemical Engineering Coursework-program show that, overall, whilst students gave higher marks than the lecturer in summative grading (Student:Lecturer S/L ∼1.2), there was no correlation between student Assessors who gave high marks and Assessees who received high marks, or, between Assessors who gave low marks and Assessees who received low marks. Each of 14 students (4 female and 10 male) enrolled in a one-semester, introductory course in Pinch Analysis were required to anonymously mark the solutions of a randomly selected class colleague to each of nine assigned problems using, as a guide, idealized solutions provided by the lecturer. The assigned problems involved four-descriptive and five-numeric types. None of the students had taken part in peer assessment beforehand. Student Assessors generally gave higher marks for descriptive questions than the lecturer (S/L ∼1.4). However, both students and lecturer marked the numeric questions equally on average. Assessee expectations that class-peers would mark harder than the lecturer were therefore not borne out. An independent and unique Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) survey revealed broad student agreement that peer assessment was an effective way to learn (13/13) and that it stimulated interest in the course material (13/13). Students (12/13) stated that idealized solutions of the lecturer were essential for successful peer assessment outcomes. Research results show therefore that these students highly valued this complementary and self-reflective learning experience.

► Significant student marking behaviour on assignment type.
► Numerical assignments marked harder and descriptive ones easier than lecturer.
► No apparent student collusion in awarding marks.
► Strong agreement peer assessment is an effective way to learn.