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BCIT Main Campus - jigsaw puzzle (15 pieces)

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Three Musicians By Pablo Picasso | Super Coloring

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BCIT Aerospace Technology Campus - jigsaw puzzle (15 pieces)

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Collection of short animations

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Stanislav Komsky | Effects of Good Team Work

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Close your eyes.

Think back over the last week.

What made you smile?

Even just a little bit!

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Teachers regularly inspire their students, whether they are aware of it or not. But all of us-even those in education-struggle under the weight of doubt and anxiety sometimes. We're human, after all. We've chosen to share these inspiring teaching quotes with all you teachers out there because there are two things you need to know. First, we believe in you, and second, you are not alone.

Enjoy these inspiring teaching quotes and the messages they carry for you-the teachers of the world-along with them.

"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth."-KAHLIL GIBRAN

Lebanese artist and writer Kahlil Gibran's best-known book is The Prophet. This quote is from the central character Almustafa's musings on parenthood, but it applies just as well to the role of a teacher.

The message: As a teacher, you're the most important part of a young student's life. Your love of learning can be infectious and inspiring to any student you teach. Remember how you nurture the courage in a pupil's heart. You are a tutor, an enabler, and a caregiver combined, and you can-and will-make a difference.

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener."-ROBERT FROST

American Poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Frost often examined complex social and philosophical themes in his work, but also the themes of rural life and culture that were close to his heart. His work truly awakened the hearts of many, so this seems like a good one to include here.

The message: Any teacher can awaken a student's belief in themselves. Frost encourages the idea of inspiring curiosity and sparking the desire for knowing in students. As a teacher, you are the best guide for your students in the move towards this kind of illumination. Get students curious about discovering knowledge for themselves, and focus on their interests and inherent skills and natural talents.

"One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world."―MALALA YOUSAFZAI

16-year-old Pakistani student Malala Yousafazi was an advocate for students' rights in her hometown of Swat during a very dangerous time of war and political upheaval. Malala won the Nobel peace Prize in 2014. She now lives in the United Kingdom where she still attends school.

The message: If there's anyone who is in a position to bring positive change into the world every day, it's a teacher. Don't ever think that your efforts as a teacher are insignificant and make no difference. There is no telling what positive effect you will have on someone's life, especially a student's. Be brave, stay passionate about your kids and your work, and don't give up-ever.

"I never teach my pupils. I can only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."-ALBERT EINSTEIN

Albert Einstein once claimed that if he was presented with a problem and given one hour to solve it, he'd spend 5 minutes on the solution and the other 55 minutes defining the problem. He was born to be a teacher and lived his life and work with a healthy mix of compassion and curiosity. This is one of his lesser-known quotes, but it fits the bill for sharing in this post.

The message: The best environments we can provide for our students are the ones that lead them to take responsibility for their learning. What a difference it makes in a student's mind knowing that they've discovered the answer for themselves, or been able to create it if it wasn't there.

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."-JAPANESE PROVERB

Japanese wisdom never fails. Such a timeless culture that has mastered so much of the concept of self-awareness knows a thing or two about teaching and learning. This proverb is one of my favourites and speaks to many of my own personal experiences in education.

The message:Studying is an important part of gaining an education, but reviewing and internalizing facts and data will only get a student so far. What they really crave are those moments where they truly connect with their teacher and learn a lesson that no textbook or website could ever provide. These are the priceless lessons of real life, from someone who has had those experiences and made the mistakes, and grown as a human being because of them. That's you, and those experiences are like gold to any student. Make them happen as much as you possibly can.

"What we learn with pleasure we never forget."-ALFRED MERCIER

Alfred Mercier was a doctor and writer and was part of a group responsible for promoting an awareness of French literature in Louisiana during the late 1800s. This quote is one of his more well-known musings on the value of inspired learning.

The message: Learning can be enjoyable in every way for both teacher and student, and it should be. When our students are engaged and invested in their learning and are truly having fun, that's a big part of how learning "sticks." Teachers are in a perfect position to make the learning environments and experiences they provide for their students highly enjoyable and deeply memorable.

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."-B.B. KING

One of the most soulful and influential blues guitarists in history is B.B. King. This is what the legendary "King of Blues" himself had to say about the gift of learning.

The message:At the end of the day, learning is a deeply personal experience. When something is learned, understood, and finally becomes transparent to the learner, it is a very special kind of individual accomplishment that changes that person forever. The mind becomes refreshed and more open, new neural connections are formed, and curiosity expands. The more we learn, the more we want to learn.

Both learning and the thirst for it are the eternal gifts teachers give to each one of their students. These gifts are possessions a student never loses, and which benefit them for life.

"Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me."-FRED ROGERS

We all knew him as the lovable host of Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, but few know just how much the late Fred Rogers did to push television networks to become better nurturers of our youth. As a teacher himself, he cared about the education and well-being of children across the globe immensely.

Check out this YouTube video and watch Mr. Rogers calmly turn a condescending hard-nosed U.S. senator into a kid all over again.

The message: Teaching is by far one of the more noble and influential professions on the planet. Teachers help their students every day to become better learners, better citizens, and in doing so become better teachers. Make no mistake-you're a hero to many children. Let that be one of the many reasons you continue to nurture the architects of the future.

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as every child should be given the wish to learn."-JOHN LUBBOCK

John Lubbock, the Lord Avebury, had his hands in pretty much everything. He was a banker, politician, philanthropist, and scientist. Lubbock was regarded as a polymath, or an expert in many subjects and disciplines. That alone gives him a close kinship to the practice of being an educator. Teachers are also called upon to demonstrate prowess in many diverse subject areas, so Lubbock's wisdom fits nicely here.

The message:What Lubbock tells us here doesn't suggest that children should not be taught. It comes down to what they're taught and how. This bit of advice reminds us that developing the passion for lifelong learning within students is the key to their success.

"To teach is to learn twice over."-JOSEPH JOUBERT

Joseph Joubert was an essayist who wrote many musings about the nature of human existence and other profound subjects. All of his insights were eventually published into a posthumous masterwork known as Pensées ( Thoughts).

The message:Let this be your mantra now and for the days to come- never stop learning.

Joubert notes in this quote, and observed much in his writing, that teaching moments are golden. This is especially true of the moments when we teach successfully. It's more than just imparting awareness and knowledge and building the skill to use it. It's about understanding as a teacher how learning changes people. If a teacher truly observes those wonderful moments and remains present in them, learning will happen for both teacher and student over and over again, forever.

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10 Inspirational Education Quotes for Educators Everywhere

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Teachers regularly inspire their students, whether they are aware of it or not. But all of us-even those in education-struggle under the weight of doubt and anxiety sometimes. We're human, after all. We've chosen to share these inspiring teaching quotes with all you teachers out there because there are two things you need to know.

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Online Coloring Book for Kids and Adults for free

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Want to paint the Mandala - pencil? Great choice! Online coloring is easy to play and so much fun. Play with colors online, save your picture or just print it and color your Mandala - pencil with more fantasy. And all is for free!

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Mandala - pencil - Online Coloring Book for Kids and Adults for free

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Want to paint the Mandala - pencil? Great choice! Online coloring is easy to play and so much fun. Play with colors online, save your picture or just print it and color your Mandala - pencil with more fantasy. And all is for free!

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Sample reporting instrument

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Sample reporting instrument

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Sample reporting instrument

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Faculty Focus

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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Many faculty now have students do some graded work in groups. The task may be, for example, preparation of a paper or report, collection and analysis of data, a presentation supported with visuals, or creation of a website. Faculty make these assignments with high expectations. They want the groups to produce quality work-better than what the students could do individually-and they want the students to learn how to work productively with others. Sometimes those expectations are realized, but most of the time there is room for improvement-sometimes lots of it. To that end, below is a set of suggestions for improving group projects. A list in the article referenced below provided a starting place for these recommendations.

1. Emphasize the importance of teamwork-
Before the groups are formed and the task is set out, teachers should make clear why this particular assignment is being done in groups. Students are still regularly reporting in survey data that teachers use groups so they don't have to teach or have as much work to grade. Most of us are using groups because employers in many fields want employees who can work with others they don't know, may not like, who hold different views, and possess different skills and capabilities.
2. Teach teamwork skills-Most students don't come to group work knowing how to function effectively in groups. Whether in handouts, online resources, or discussions in class, teachers need to talk about the responsibilities members have to the group (such as how sometimes individual goals and priorities must be relinquished in favor of group goals) and about what members have the right to expect from their groups. Students need strategies for dealing with members who are not doing their fair share. They need ideas about constructively resolving disagreement. They need advice on time management.

3. Use team-building exercises to build cohesive groups-Members need the chance to get to know each other, and they should be encouraged to talk about how they'd like to work together. Sometimes a discussion of worst group experiences makes clear to everyone that there are behaviors to avoid. This might be followed with a discussion of what individual members need from the group in order to do their best work. Things like picking a group name and creating a logo also help create a sense of identity for the group, which in turn fosters the commitment groups need from their members in order to succeed.

4. Thoughtfully consider group formation-Most students prefer forming their own groups, and in some studies these groups are more productive. In other research, students in these groups "enjoy" the experience of working together, but they don't always get a lot done. In most professional contexts, people don't get to choose their project partners. If the goal is for students to learn how to work with others whom they don't know, then the teacher should form the groups. There are many ways groups can be formed and many criteria that can be used to assemble groups. Groups should be formed in a way that furthers the learning goals of the group activity.

5. Make the workload reasonable and the goals clear-Yes, the task can be larger than what one individual can complete. But students without a lot of group work experience may struggle with large, complex tasks. Whatever the task, the teacher's goals and objectives should be clear. Students shouldn't have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing.

6. Consider roles for group members-Not all the literature recommends assigning roles, although some does. Roles can emerge on their own as members see what functions the group needs and step up to fill those roles. However, this doesn't always happen when students are new to group work. The teacher can decide on the necessary roles and suggest them to a group with the group deciding who does what. The teacher can assign the roles, but should realize that assigning roles doesn't guarantee that students will assume those roles. Assigned roles can stay the same or they can rotate. However they're implemented, roles are taken more seriously if groups are required to report who filled what role in the group.

7. Provide some class time for meetings-It is very hard for students to orchestrate their schedules. Part of what they need to be taught about group work is the importance of coming to meetings with an agenda-some expectation about what needs to get done. They also need to know that significant amounts of work can be done in short periods of time, provided the group knows what needs to be done next. Working online is also increasingly an option, but being able to convene even briefly in class gives groups the chance to touch base and get organized for the next steps.

8. Request interim reports and group process feedback-One of the group's first tasks ought to be the creation of a time line-what they expect to have done by when. That time line should guide instructor requests for progress reports from the group, and the reports should be supported with evidence. It's not good enough for the group to say it's collecting references. A list of references collected should be submitted with the report. Students should report individually on how well the group is working together, including their contributions to the group. Ask students what else could they contribute that would make the group function even more effectively.

9. Require individual members to keep track of their contributions-The final project should include a report from every member identifying their contribution to the project. If two members report contributing the same thing, the teacher defers to the student who has evidence that supports what the student claims to have done.

10. Include peer assessment in the evaluation process-What a student claims to have contributed to the group and its final product can also be verified with a peer assessment in which members rate or rank (or both) the contributions of others. A formative peer assessment early in the process can help members redress what the group might identify as problems they are experiencing at this stage.

Students, like the rest of us, aren't born knowing how to work well in a group. Fortunately, it's a skill that can be taught and learned. Teacher design and management of group work on projects can do much to ensure that the lessons students learn about working with others are the ones that will serve them well the next time they work in groups.

Reference: Hansen, R.S. (2006). Benefits and problems with student teams: Suggestions for improving team projects. Journal of Education for Business, September/October, 11-19.

Reprinted from Improving Group Projects. The Teaching Professor, 27.6 (2013): 4-5. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved.

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10 Recommendations for Improving Group Work

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Many faculty now have students do some graded work in groups. The task may be, for example, preparation of a paper or report, collection and analysis of data, a presentation supported with visuals, or creation of a website. Faculty make these assignments with high expectations.

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Do as much as you can in the time provided.

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NOTE: for discussion purposes - not a perfect document!

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AnswerGarden " My biggest challenge is...

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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from UBC

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Peer assessment is a broad term for a range of activities that include students in the act of evaluating and providing feedback on the work of their peers. It can be formative, where students give feedback on each other's drafts before a final product is submitted, or summative, where students use a rubric to grade final submissions. Peer assessment is most commonly used with written work, but can also be used with presentations, performances, posters, videos and other types of assignments. It is also commonly used as a strategy for students to assess the contributions of their fellow students to group work and assignments. Students benefit from peer assessment in a number of ways: receiving more frequent and timely feedback than when the instructor is the only one providing it, getting feedback on drafts and being able to make improvements, and engaging in the critical analysis and reflection associated with assessing the work of their peers.

...if feedback processes are to enhance learning, we must move beyond a view of feedback as transmission and acknowledge the active role that students must play in such. (Nicol, Thomson and Breslin 2014)

How does peer assessment work?

Peer assessment can take many forms that can vary depending on the learning goals, the disciplinary or curricular context, and available technologies. Peer assessment is often characterized as taking either a formative or summative approach.

Formative Peer Assessment

1. Students are introduced to the assignment and criteria for assessment

2. Students are trained and given practice on how to assess and provide feedback

3. Students complete and submit a draft

4. Students assess the drafts of other students and give feedback

5. Students reflect on the feedback received and revise their work for final submission

6. Assignments are graded by the instructor

7. Instructor reflects on the activity with the class

Summative Peer Assessment

1. Students are introduced to the assignment and criteria for assessment

2. Students are trained and given practice on how to use the grading rubric and provide feedback

3. Students complete and submit a final assignment

4. Students assess the assignments of 3 to 6 other students using the grading rubric and provide feedback

5. Grades are determined for each student by taking the median score given by their peers

6. Instructor and students reflect on the activity with an emphasis on reinforcing the learning that occurred in the giving of peer feedback

How can peer assessment improve student learning?

Clarifying assignment goals and criteria - The act of assessing peers requires students to examine assignment criteria more closely and gives them practice applying the criteria to multiple examples, giving them better ability to reflect on how their own work matches up against the criteria. Students can have different conceptions about learning goals and criteria from those of instructors (Hounsell, 1997; Norton, 1990). Through peer assessment practice, students will become familiar with assessment criteria and aware of the traits that distinguish successful performance from those that fail to meet the expectation.

More feedback, more quickly - Instructors are often unable to give frequent detailed feedback on multiple writing assignments. Instructor time is cited as one of the major factors limiting increased opportunities for students to practice writing and get feedback on their work (Cho and Schunn 2007). Also, students are often asked to wait for a couple of weeks until they receive feedback from an instructor/TA. Receiving feedback from multiple peers also provides potentially more diverse feedback and offers the chance to learn from different perspectives.

Learning through giving feedback - Students learn through the act of providing constructive feedback as it engages students in complex problem solving processes of diagnosing problems and suggesting solutions. Studies have shown that providing elaborated feedback that includes descriptions of problems and scaffolded solutions is the element of peer assessment that most benefits student learning (Lie et al. 2010, 2012; Topping et al. 2013).

Increased critical engagement with assignments - Peer assessment increases time students spend thinking critically about an assignment through "reviewing, summarizing clarifying, giving feedback, diagnosing misconceived knowledge, identifying missing knowledge and considering deviations from the ideal." (Topping 1998) These activities help to reinforce and deepen learning.

Encourages reflective comparison - When students assess their peers' work they are actively comparing their own work to their peers' work with reference to assignment requirements, instructor expectations, and perceptions of quality (Baker 2016; Nicol, Thomson and Breslin 2014). Engaging students as critical readers of their peers' writing also helps them develop a better understanding of how readers might interpret the texts they produce (Cho and Cho 2011; MacArthur 2010).

Active engagement - Peer assessment encourages active learning by engaging students in the feedback process rather than just being passive recipients of feedback from an instructor (Liu and Carless 2006; Cartney 2010; Nicol 2011). In so doing, they are alerted to the value of the feedback as opposed to seeing it as a justification for a grade. Peer assessment can help to provide opportunities for earlier feedback so that students can use it to improve their work through revising drafts or incorporating what they've learned into subsequent assignments. Studies show students are more motivated to engage with and use feedback when the immediate utility of that feedback is clear (Moore and Teather 2013). Opportunities to apply knowledge through practice and receive quality feedback on that practice are known to have positive impacts on student learning (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick 2006).

Improved understanding of their own work - Students develop the metacognitive capacity to think more critically about their own work through the evaluation of their peers' work. Training and experience in peer assessment may also help to correct the adverse effects of students overestimating or underestimating their own performance and can result in students becoming more independent learners, lessening the dependence on feedback from instructors (Nicol, Thomson and Breslin 2014).

Increased opportunities for writing in the discipline - Including students in the process of providing feedback and possibly grading the work of their peers can be a way to incorporate more disciplinary based writing activities without placing too much additional burden on instructor time.

Development of lifelong skills - Peer assessment helps students develop lifelong, transferable skills such as engaging in critical review of the work of peers and colleagues, communicating feedback in a constructive and positive way, learning to accept the feedback of others and incorporating the feedback from multiple people into their work. This helps to prepare them to engage in these type of activities independently once they leave school.

"...students are not just learning by constructing meaning from feedback provided by others, rather they are learning by constructing feedback 'meanings' themselves ."(Nicol 2011)

Understanding different types of peer assessment

The concept of peer assessment is broad and thus can be implemented in a variety of different ways, so it is important to think through some of the basic elements that go into designing a peer assessment activity in light of the desired learning outcomes. (modified from Gielen 2010 and Topping 1998).

Object of assessment - What will students produce? (paper, web page, poster, presentation, video, group project participation/contribution) What skills are students expected to develop and demonstrate as they produce this artifact?

Product of peer assessment - What is the output that students create while assessing their peers? (grades, rubric, ranking, guided questions, qualitative feedback)

Formative or Summative - Will the final product be peer assessed for a grade or will students submit a draft product for peer assessment that they can revise before submitting to the instructor?

Grading - How will students be graded on the assignment? Will peer assessment replace the instructor assessment (substitutional)? Will students receive marks or feedback from both peers and instructors (partially substitutional)? Or, will peer assessment provide additional feedback but be primarily assessed by the instructor for the final grade (supplementary)? Will you give students feedback or assign a grade, with or without evaluation, for their assessments of their peers?

Reviewer organization and directionality - How will peer assessors be assigned? (e.g. randomized, self-selected, instructor selected, small group, pair-matched). How many assessments will you require each student to complete? Will the reviews be anonymous or will there be dialogue between the peers reviewing each other?

Training - How experienced and confident are the students with peer assessment? How will students be trained to assess the work of their peers and provide feedback? At what point in the process does the training occur?

Frequency and positioning - Will there be multiple scaffolded activities across a term or a single peer assessed activity? Will the peer assessment be used to provide feedback at multiple stages in a larger assignment or at the end of an assignment? Will there be a 'practice peer feedback activity' to get students familiar and comfortable with this? Are students' skills and familiarity built up over a series of courses at a curricular level or is this type of activity unique to your course?

Types of peer assessment

Formative Feedback - Students provide formative and constructive feedback on drafts that students are able to revise before submitting a final product. This can be done as a an in-class activity or using a variety of online tools, including in Canvas at UBC. The final grade is given by the instructor or TA. This can also be done using a sequence of assignments. Students get peer feedback after each assignment and then are able to apply the feedback to each subsequent assignment with the goal of improving over time.

Peer grading - Students assign grades to their peers based on assessment criteria. Peer grading is typically done using online tools that randomly and anonymously distribute assignments for review by a specified number of other students. Students grade their peers using an online rubric and final scores for a particular assignment are typically tallied by taking the median value of all peer grades that assignment has received.

Peer assessment of group work participation - Grading group work can be a challenge for instructors, because it is difficult to determine the contributions of each individual students. Many instructors use peer assessment to supplement instructor grades by adding a participation component to group assignments. Students give a participation score and overall comments for each group member using a rubric that is based on criteria that the instructor establishes. The instructor then uses these evaluations to give each student an overall participation grade for the assignment.

Tool Comparison Chart

Canvas

CLAS

ComPAIR

iPeer

peerScholar

Assignment Suitability

text, images, video

text, images, video, audio

text, images, formula

group evaluations

text, images, video, audio

Types of Feedback

text

text, video, audio

text

text

text

Evaluation Configuration

individual

group/class

individual

self, individual, group

self, individual, group

*Canvas: If the setting for anonymous feedback is applied, the annotation function will be disabled.

Strategies for Success

Set expectations and clarify goals - Students are often apprehensive about peer assessment, particularly when peer grading is involved, but also with giving and receiving feedback. It is important to clarify expectations and goals of the activity for all involved to build trust at the beginning and get student buy in. Students could be asked to read one of the educational research studies on peer review cited in this guide.

Provide training for students - Especially for novice students, it is important to provide training activities to teach students how to assess their peers' work and provide constructive feedback. This can help not just to increase the ability of students to conduct peer assessments, but improve students' confidence in the process. In large classes, TAs will need to be trained first so they can provide training to students.

Model assessment and feedback - Model the act of assessing and giving feedback for your students by guiding them through the process of assessing some sample assignments. It helps to provide examples of assessed work that show varying levels of performance or indicate common challenges that you want students to focus on. This can be done through online modules or as in class activities.

Emphasize written feedback - While rating peers' texts using rubrics and scoring criteria can improve students writing skills in certain contexts, studies show that students consistently benefit more from providing written feedback to peers than any other activities that are part of the peer review process (Lu and Law 2012; Wooley et al. 2008).

Encourage elaborated feedback - Novice peer reviewers tend to focus on surface level feedback and revisions, focusing on grammar or error corrections rather than meaning level changes. Giving specific instructions, training and guided feedback prompts can help to raise the quality of the feedback and resulting learning benefits. Studies show students benefit most from constructing feedback where they not only identify strengths and weaknesses but offer suggestions and strategies for improvement. (Patchan and Schun 2015)

Allow opportunities to apply feedback - Feedback is most useful when learners act on it. Design into the series of activities some opportunities for students to make revisions to their work and reflect on how the feedback they received influenced the revisions. It can also be helpful to have students reflect on the feedback and revision process. Why did they accept or reject suggestions? How did they modify their work after receiving feedback? How did evaluating the work of their peers change the way they saw their own work?

Allow adequate time and spacing for the process - In order to encourage a deeper level of engagement, begin the peer assessment process early in the term so that there is adequate time for students to reflect on the feedback they receive and apply it to their learning either through revision or on subsequent assignments. Studies have shown that revisions early in the process focused on substantial, content-based changes, while revisions close due date resulted in polishing edits focused on grammar, word substitution, and spelling (Baker 2016; Cho and MacArthur, 2010). In a short 12-week class schedule, the ideal design will start the peer review activities by week 3.

Align peer assessment to key learning goals - Make sure the peer assessment activities are aligned with core learning goals so that it is clear to students how the activities benefit their learning and are not perceived as an add-on assignment with little value. Peer assessment activities take considerable time and effort from students, but positioned strategically can help focus student effort and deepen critical engagement around key learning goals. If there are grades assigned for the giving of feedback, they must be weighted heavily enough to indicate the importance of this activity.

"While rating peers' texts using rubrics and scoring criteria can improve students writing skills in certain contexts, students consistently benefit more from providing feedback to peers more than any other activities that are part of the peer review process (Lu and Law 2012; Wooley et al. 2008)." from Patchan and Schunn 2015

Challenges

Setup and monitoring time - Instructors often adopt peer assessment in hopes of integrating writing activities into their classes without adding too much of an extra time commitment. While peer assessment has shown positive learning benefits for students, there might not be time saving for the instructor in the short or medium term since there is a considerable amount of effort needed to design, implement, and monitor high quality activities (Topping 1998). In the long term, after the assignment has been designed and implemented, there may be time benefits.

Student acceptance - Even though many studies have shown peer assessed quantitative scoring to be reliable and valid when compared with instructor given grades, students may not accept peer assessment results as accurate or fair and are apprehensive about peers' scores being used for grading (Carvalho 2013, K. Cho, Schunn, & Wilson, 2006, Topping 1998).

Student inexperience - Novice students lack both a high level understanding of subject matter issues and experience providing constructive feedback which presents challenges to peer assessment (Cho and Schunn 2007). These challenges need to be mitigated through scaffolding and training. Instructors must be realistic about the ceiling on students' ability to provide deep feedback.

Moving beyond surface level engagement - Students new to critically reviewing their peers' work may focus on providing positive comments or making surface level corrections rather than providing meaningful, high level feedback. Modeling effective feedback is important. Inexperienced student writers also may view revisions as "cleaning up" and revise their texts in a linear manner based on the feedback they receive rather than looking at the overall meaning and structure of their argument (Patchan and Schunn 2015).

Summary of the Research

The following is a summary of some of the peer reviewed research that shows evidence of the efficacy of peer assessment as a pedagogical tool:
Baker, K. M. (2016). Peer review as a strategy for improving students' writing process. Active Learning in Higher Education, Gielen, S., Dochy, F., & Onghena, P. (2011). An inventory of peer assessment diversity. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(2), 137-155 Moore, C., & Teather, S. (2013). Engaging students in peer review: Feedback as learning. Teaching and Learning Forum 2013. Potter, T., Englund, L., Charbonneau, J., MacLean, M. T., Newell, J., & Roll, I. (2017). ComPAIR: A New Online Tool Using Adaptive Comparative Judgement to Support Learning with Peer Feedback Sluijsmans, D. M., Brand-Gruwel, S., & van Merriënboer, J. J. (2002). Peer assessment training in teacher education: Effects on performance and perceptions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education Topping, K. (1998). Peer assessment between students in colleges and universities. Review of educational Research, 68(3), 249-276. , 27(5), 443-454. . Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 5(2), 89-113. 17(3), 179-192.
This study focuses on assessing the peer review process rather than just the outcomes and looks at the impacts of timing and revisions based on the feedback students receive. Students were required to submit a draft paper for peer review four weeks before the final paper due date. Students used a rubric to anonymously evaluate one peer paper and were instructed to identify weaknesses and then offer suggestions to correct the problems. Students were then directed to review the feedback and use them to revise their draft before final submission. Results showed that the majority of students were successful in providing constructive feedback and made more meaning level changes to their drafts than surface level changes, contrasting a number of previous studies. The authors suggest this was likely the result of the formative focused process with early review, in class training and use of a structured rubric and guiding feedback questions. The study also suggests that the benefits of peer review do not just derive from producing feedback, but from producing critical reviews that are grounded in comparison to their own work and the work of other students.

This paper explores the use of peer assessment to assessment student performance and group contributions in group work activities in a problem based learning course. Results showed that 70 percent of students expressed a positive experience with their peer graded group participation marks. There was, however, a cluster of students who were dissatisfied with the peer marking indicating the presence of bias related to friendship based marking and conflict arising from the marks within the group. Student perceptions of fairness are highlighted as a major factor that instructors need to consider before implementing similar peer grading approaches.

In this paper, the authors address the important practical limitation in higher education that while students may receive ample practice writing in disciplinary courses, they may not receive adequate feedback or instruction. The study compared the quality of student writing across three conditions. Group 1 reviewed peer papers by scoring them with a rubric and providing written feedback. Group 2 read peer papers, but did not evaluate them or provide feedback. Group 3, the control group, did not read or evaluate peer papers. Results showed that the students who completed the peer review demonstrated significantly higher quality in the subsequent writing assignment than the other two groups. Students that only read peer papers showed slightly higher quality in their writing assignment than the control group. This findings support the initial hypothesis that the act of reviewing peers and providing feedback provides the most significant learning benefits in the peer review process.

This paper analyzes the impact of introducing a new peer review system, SWoRD is modeled after the peer review process used in journal submission. Through examining existing writing practices in higher education courses they found that students, especially in large content courses, get the opportunity to practice writing and rewriting. SWoRD was developed to provide more opportunities for feedback and revision through peer processes while being mindful of the challenges inherent in peer review that novice students lack the content knowledge and experience in providing feedback. In pilot studies, the authors found that use of SWoRD and associated peer review process was successful in improving student writing skills without increasing instructor workload. Their findings also indicate feedback provided by multiple peers led to more significant improvements in revisions of papers compared with feedback provided by experts

This paper examines the literature on peer assessment practice to develop a framework to help researchers understand and describe the wide variety of different types of peer assessment activities being studied. The authors indicate that the term peer assessment is so broad that it may lead educators to confuse a wide range of disparate and potentially incompatible practices. The authors' goal is to help practitioners understand the diversity of choices available and be more thoughtful in how peer assessments are designed and understood. The paper extends upon Toppings typology to add eight variables and eight implementation factors that can be used to describe peer assessment activities and used as a tool in design.

This study looks to understand the negative perceptions of peer assessment often expressed by students. The authors analyze the end of course surveys from 250 students across 10 courses and 6 universities using a common online peer assessment tool. Student perceptions were most positive where instructors graded the work in addition to the students. The study then looks more closely at student experiences in one class, finding that students often identify peer assessment as unfair and believe peers are unqualified to assess their work. They find that negative perceptions of fairness often drop following the peer assessment activity, with the greatest factor in the positive change being whether students felt that the feedback they received was positive and helpful.

This study looks at the effects of online peer assessment on student learning, specifically looking at peer grading and peer feedback. The results of the study show that students benefit from providing feedback to peers more than any other activities that are part of the peer review process. Identification of problems and suggestions for improvement by peer assessors was a significant predictor of student performance for the students giving the feedback. Positive, affective feedback was related to the performance of the students being assessed. Peer grading behaviours were not identified as a significant predictor of performance. The study supports the idea that peer grading alone is not as effective as peer grading that includes written feedback.

This paper outlines how peer review and feedback was integrated into teaching and assessment cycle of a third year social studies unit and looks at student perceptions of their experience with the peer review activity. Their findings show that there was a positive change in student attitudes around peer assessment between the pre and post surveys. Students initially expressed anxiety and hesitation, but after the activity expressed that they learned a lot from it and saw the benefits. Students expressed that they were nervous about peers seeing their work, but ultimately appreciated the feedback they received and enjoyed the opportunity to get new ideas from others, both in the feedback and in the opportunity to view their peers' work. Students also reported that reviewing the work of others helped to clarify the assignment requirements and expectations. Students indicated, however, that they did not like it when peers marked their work or the activity was used just for marking.

This study uses student accounts of their experiences with a peer review activity to understand the learning benefits from both receiving and creating feedback. The findings show that producing feedback engages students in multiple levels of evaluative judgement where students compare peer work to their own writing as well as to the assignment requirements established by the instructor. This gives students greater control over the feedback process and practice in applying criteria to make judgements which can result in greater learner autonomy, ultimately reducing their need for feedback on their own work.

In this paper the authors study the use of a newly designed peer assessment tool, ComPAIR, that was piloted in courses in Physics, English and Math courses at The University of British Columbia. The authors acknowledge that while peer assessment is known to be an effective pedagogical strategy, its effectiveness in introductory courses can be limited by lack of student knowledge depth in the content area and lack of experience in reviewing peers and providing feedback. Their approach aims to mitigate these challenges by providing a simpler peer assessment process that facilitates a process of direct comparison between two peer submissions. While novice students may find it difficult to directly assess the quality of a particular work in isolation, they contend that students are much more capable of making direct comparisons. Their results indicate that students reported the use of ComPAIR helped them to better understand course content, increased their ability to assess their own work and increased their ability to provide feedback to their peers.

In this study, the authors conducted an experimental study to test whether a peer assessment training lead to better peer assessment skills and improved performance in the content domain. A study was conducted in a course in a course on designing creative lessons. While student teachers in control group studies the domain-specific tasks, students in two experimental groups received 4 consecutive training on peer assessment where they defined criteria for peer assessment, discussed the purpose and guidelines for giving constructive feedback, and practiced the peer assessment task. Students in both control and experimental groups assessed the videotaped lessons of their peers. The results of this study reveals students who were trained in peer assessment showed better peer assessment skills: applying more criteria, giving more constructive feedback, etc. More importantly, students from the experimental groups did perform better on designing creative lessons than students from the control group.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature around the practice of peer assessment in higher education from 1980 through 1996. Topping summarizes the findings regarding the efficacy and perceptions around peer assessment and develops a typology to help characterize and understand the varied practices that have been described in the literature as peer assessment. Overall, the majority of studies indicated that peer assessment showed adequate reliability and validity across a wide range of applications and contexts. There was a minority of studies that found peer assessment reliability and validity low in certain contexts. Peer assessment was shown to be more reliable than self-assessment and acceptability to students did not show a strong relation to actual reliability. In the relatively high number of studies found related to peer assessment of writing, it was generally reported that outcomes were at least as good as teacher assessment and in some cases better.

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Ideas and Strategies for Peer Assessments

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The following is a summary of some of the peer reviewed research that shows evidence of the efficacy of peer assessment as a pedagogical tool:

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from McGill

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from Cornell

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Peer assessment or peer review provides a structured learning process for students to critique and provide feedback to each other on their work. It helps students develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, and also equips them with skills to self-assess and improve their own work.

If you are interested in facilitating a team member evaluation process for group projects, see the page on Teaching students to evaluate each other.

Why use peer assessment?

Peer assessment can:

Empower students to take responsibility for and manage their own learning.

Enable students to learn to assess and give others constructive feedback to develop lifelong assessment skills.

Enhance students' learning through knowledge diffusion and exchange of ideas.

Motivate students to engage with course material more deeply.

Considerations for using peer assessment

Let students know the rationale for doing peer review. Explain the expectations and benefits of engaging in a peer review process.

Consider having students evaluate anonymous assignments for more objective feedback.

Be prepared to give feedback on students' feedback to each other. Display some examples of feedback of varying quality and discuss which kind of feedback is useful and why.

Give clear directions and time limits for in-class peer review sessions and set defined deadlines for out-of-class peer review assignments.

Listen to group feedback discussions and provide guidance and input when necessary.

Student familiarity and ownership of criteria tend to enhance peer assessment validity, so involve students in a discussion of the criteria used. Consider involving students in developing an assessment rubric.

Getting started with peer assessment

Identify assignments or activities for which students might benefit from peer feedback.

Consider breaking a larger assignment into smaller pieces and incorporating peer assessment opportunities at each stage. For example, assignment outline, first draft, second draft, etc.

Design guidelines or  rubrics  with clearly defined tasks for the reviewer.

Introduce rubrics through learning exercises to ensure students have the ability to apply the rubric effectively.

Determine whether peer review activities will be conducted as in-class or out-of-class assignments. For out-of-class assignments, peer assessments can be facilitated through Canvas using tools such as FeedbackFruits peer review and group member evaluation, Canvas peer review assignment, or Turnitin. See the Comparison of peer evaluation tools to learn more and/or set up a consultation by contacting CTI."

Help students learn to carry out peer assessment by modeling appropriate, constructive criticism and descriptive feedback through your own comments on student work and well-constructed rubrics.

Incorporate small feedback groups where written comments on assignments can be explained and discussed with the receiver.

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Peer assessment | Center for Teaching Innovation

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Peer assessment or peer review provides a structured learning process for students to critique and provide feedback to each other on their work. It helps students develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, and also equips them with skills to self-assess and improve their…