I think one key issue is whether the peer evaluation "determines" the grade or whether it "informs the professor" who determines the grade.
I use peer evaluations all the time (peer reviewing, evaluation of student presentations, group work, etc.), as well as self evaluation (at the end of the semester for class participation). I always tell students that they have information that I don't (e.g., who showed up at the group meeting, who pulled their weight, who did a good job) and I'm interested in their opinions. I say that I consider their opinion (why I ask) but it is my opinion that counts (that is I am doing the grading). I also say that if they just give themselves (or their peers) all As I will disregard their opinion (so they have chosen to give me unusable information because it is extremely unlikely that everyone was outstanding in every way). I've never had any students made negative comments about it. I think that they like that I ask for their opinion and they like that their peers are not given the power of grading. Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology Kaufman 168, Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/ **************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Annette Taylor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:04 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Grading by Crowdsourcing I had a similar experience about 15-20 years ago when I similarly asked students to grade themselves and to do peer evaluations. The students let me know via the course evaluations that it was not their (the students') job to do the grading! Similarly, when I have solicited multiple choice items as a way of getting students to engage with the material I had a similar response on course evaluations. I think, however, this is because grading yourself and/or others is really not that easy. It's actually quite hard to be honest and give a low mark to someone, especially if they are putting out an honest effort but just not getting it. The students did not like this. Also, writing a good multiple choice item is very challenging and instead of having greater respect for the task, the students seemed to want a boundary between my job and their job. I often laugh at all the research that people cite to say that students are so very different now. No, they are not that much different now, compared to then, compared to when I was student. Of course, 15-20 years ago no one was hollering FERPA. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [email protected] ________________________________________ From: William Scott [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 4:52 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Grading by Crowdsourcing Long ago I had the brilliant idea of asking students to grade themselves on their own class participation which was a syllabus defined percentage of their grade. I found their estimates to be close to what I would have given them. They seemed to be quite honest and few went for the easy A. However, on course evaluations, they hated it. They thought I had abdicated my responsibility to give them feedback on that aspect of their performance. Another aspect of this "crowdsourcing" is the federal secrecy of student records act that does not allow for students or anyone else to know the grades of other students. If other students are publically determining grades for identified students in the class, it might be in violation of FERPA. Bill Scott >>> Sally Walters <[email protected]> 05/03/10 5:14 PM >>> Tired of marking? Turn it over to the students - use "crowdsourcing": http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/05/03/grading#Comments Sally Walters Capilano University North Vancouver, BC --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb25165c&n=T&l=tips&o=2420 or send a blank email to leave-2420-13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb251...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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