Students assessing student: case studies on peer assessment

Abstract

Peer-assessment can be viewed in many ways: from a tool for reflection by students to a method of reducing staff marking loads. When deciding whether to use peer-assessment, several questions arise. Can naïve inexperienced markers evaluate their peers? What factors influence student assessors? Should you ‘pass on’ your marking to students? This article considers current issues about peer-assessment by discussing preliminary findings from two current projects currently being undertaken.