Abstract:

The process of convergence and the adoption of a new education model in which the centre of interest is shifted from teaching to learning have brought about substantial changes in the structure and organisation of formative proposals in Higher Education, but this has also implied a highly-complex qualitative reconversion of educational practices which has had a considerable effect on planning, development, and assessment in teaching, as well as the rationale behind any actions which are taken.

Objective:
The research and innovation work that is presented below has analysed the degree of concordance between the appraisal carried out by teachers, and the assessment performed by students about the work done by their peers.

Methodology:
This transversal piece of research was conducted with students of Gerontology of Physical Activity and Physical Activity and Exercise for Adult People, as well as with teachers of both these subjects during the academic years 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. A total of 531 registers were analysed: 478 from students, and 53 from teachers. Evaluation focused on a single part of one subject in which students were asked to complete some work on a topic delineated by their teachers and selected by the group of students. The study was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical analysis started with a descriptive analysis of measures of central tendency (mean and standard deviation) followed by a correlational analysis between the global evaluation parameters and the student-teacher co-evaluation with regard to their peers. To this end, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 18.0. The level of significance was set at 5% (p<0.05) for all tests.

Results:
The results show a higher level of concordance between teachers and students in their fourth year, especially in such sections as: Work accomplished (r=0.912 p<0.001), Global Evaluation (r=0.925 p<0.001), Literature review (r=0.899 p<0.001).

Conclusions:
This piece of research confirms that students become more involved in activities where assessment tasks require high levels of personal and collective responsibility. Whilst retaining part of their responsibility in the evaluation process, the fact that teachers may share it with their students proves to be beneficial, since it leads to an increased commitment and motivation in the teaching and learning process, thus contributing to development of evaluation skills.

Keywords:

Active methodologies, oral exposition.