Increasing anonymity in peer assessment by using classroom response technology within face-to-face higher education

Peer assessment is becoming more popular in higher education, however it often goes together with undesirable social effects like peer pressure and favoritism, especially when students need to evaluate peers in a face-to-face setting. The present study was set up to investigate increased anonymity in peer assessment to counter these undesirable social effects. It was hypothesized that modes of peer assessment that provide an increased anonymity will induce a reduced perception of peer pressure, increased feelings of comfort and more positive attitudes towards peer assessment. Classroom response technology (CRT) was introduced as a tool that enables anonymity. In addition, oral and written feedback was organized to meet the need for feedback. The results show that the proposed peer assessment practice combines the positive attitudes and feelings of comfort related to the anonymous use of CRT with the perceived added value of argumentation in oral and written feedback.