Abstract:

Assessment is conducted for many reasons including quality assurance, ie confirming achievement of learning outcomes, for provision of feedback and for developing the independent learning skills. While assessment may shape students’ perception of learning, to be effective learners students need to understand the assessment processes, criteria and learning outcomes being used and the learning opportunities the assessment activities provide. Many activities have been designed to assist students to engage with and understand assessment processes including providing rubrics containing written criteria and demonstrated competency and/or grade descriptors. However, this may be insufficient to make what is often tacit ‘knowledge’ visible to students. It could be argued that this is particularly relevant for students new to higher education who are yet to have become familiar with the learning culture and expectations of the institution in which they are studying.
We suggest that for students to be socialised into these tacit assessment standards they need opportunities to practice and receive feedback. This paper reports on the impact of a self and peer review activity in developing student’s judgement, developing an appreciation and understanding of academic standards to increase the benefits from assessment.
The described activity deeply engages students with assessment criteria before undertaking their assessment activities. The outcome of this exercise is the development of a student rubric including holistic descriptions of the quality associated with different grades. Having a deeper understanding of the assessment criteria before students attempt their learning activities has many benefits including higher quality submissions, reduced grade shock (students getting a much different grade then they expected) and the development of student’s judgement and professional skills.

Keywords:

Self and peer assessment Collaborative learning, Academic standards, Rubric generation.