Abstract
Using peer assessment in the classroom in order to increase student engagement by actively involving them in the assessment process has been practiced and researched for decades. The literature suggests using peer review for project-based exercises. This paper analyzes the applicability of peer assessment to smaller exercises at secondary school level and makes recommendations for its use in computer science courses. For this purpose, two secondary school classes consisting of a total of 57 students were introduced to the peer assessment method within the scope of the same software engineering course. Two of 13 exercises were assessed using peer reviews via the Moodle workshop activity. The students were asked to evaluate these two exercises using an anonymous online questionnaire. At the end of the course, they were asked to rate all of the 13 exercises regarding their motivation to learn.
Overall, the anonymous feedback on the peer review exercises was very positive. It has shown that the students not only obtained more feedback, but also received it in a timelier manner compared to regular teacher assessment. The results of the overall rating of all 13 exercises regarding the motivation to learn revealed that the two peer reviewed exercises have been rated distinctly better than the average of the other eleven exercises only assessed by the teacher. Evidence therefore suggests that peer reviews are a viable option for small- and medium-sized exercises in the context of computer science education at secondary school level under certain conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The rating scales, feedback questions, and quotes have been translated from German.
References
Rogers, C.: Freedom to Learn for the 80’s, 2nd edn. Merrill, Columbus (1983)
Motschnig, R., Sedlmair, M., Schröder, S., Möller, T.: A team-approach to putting learner-centered principles to practice in a large course on human-computer interaction. In: 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, pp. 1–9. IEEE, Eire (2016)
Dochy, F., Segers, M., Sluijsmans, D.: The use of self-, peer and co-assessment in higher education: a review. Stud. High. Educ. 24(3), 331–350 (1999)
Gibbs, G.: How assessment frames student learning. In: Bryan, C., Clegg, K. (eds.) Innovative Assessment in Higher Education, pp. 23–36. Routledge, Oxfordshire (2006)
Bauer, C., Figl, K., Derntl, M., Beran, P.P., Kabicher, S.: The student view on online peer reviews. In: SIGCSE Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 26–30. ACM, New York (2009)
Sitthiworachart, J., Joy, M.: Web-based peer assessment in learning computer programming. In: 3rd IEEE International Conference on Advanced Technologies, pp. 180–184. IEEE, Athens (2003)
Gehringer, E.F.: Strategies and mechanisms for electronic peer review. In: 30th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, vol. 1, F1B/2-F1B/7. IEEE, Kansas City (2000)
Figl, K., Bauer, C., Mangler, J.: Online versus face-to-face peer team reviews. In: 36th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, pp. 7–12. IEEE, San Diego (2006)
Standl, B.: Conceptual modeling and innovative implementation of person-centered computer science education at secondary school level. Doctoral thesis, University of Vienna (2013)
MoodleDocs: Using Workshop, 25 February 2017. https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Using_Workshop. Accessed 25 Apr 2017
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dolezal, D., Motschnig, R., Pucher, R. (2018). Peer Review as a Tool for Person-Centered Learning: Computer Science Education at Secondary School Level. In: Auer, M., Guralnick, D., Simonics, I. (eds) Teaching and Learning in a Digital World. ICL 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 715. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73210-7_56
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73210-7_56
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73209-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73210-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)