Written Assignment week 2

Jack Frisbie

University of the People

Univ 1001: Online Education Strategies

Prof. Michael Irvin

June 29, 2021

Peer assessment is when students grade each other and give feedback to help their fellow

students improve themselves and their work. University of the People uses peer assessment

because it, “Is a learning activity that challenges you to apply critical thinking” (“Peer

Assessment Resources,” 2021). At the University of the People, peer assessment is largely used

when it comes to receiving our grades. Professors do grading on certain assignments but for

many we use peer assessment and grade each other's work. I assume they do this because

professors could have tons of students so they physically can’t grade EVERY assignment

There are many benefits to peer assessment. Peer assessment teaches students the ability

to give helpful feedback. By having students grade each other it allows them to learn the skills

they may need in other situations that may arise in their lives, whether it’s at work or at home,

this type of assessment can broaden someone's perspective and help them analyze information

easier. It is important for people to consider other opinions and perspectives throughout their life;

peer assessment challenges students to think this way and form a habit of taking in all

information.
 There can also be challenges associated with giving peer assessment feedback such as,

being too honest, misunderstanding peers, and language barriers. When critiquing someone else's

work, you must understand that you and the other student are not looking through the same eyes.

A phrase may have a certain meaning coming from a student, however someone else may

misinterpret their meaning and miss the whole point. It is important to be clear in the words you

use if you want your idea to be perceived the way you intended, and this may be hard between

people from different parts of the world.

Of course, there are challenges when receiving feedback as well. Not everyone will see

the same thing or even have the same knowledge on something you could be discussing and

therefore not be qualified to give feedback on a topic they know nothing about. Another

challenge when it comes to receiving peer feedback is being humble enough to receive criticism

without becoming defensive. It’s easy to get stuck in your ways, and even easier to say that

someone else is wrong. Humbleness is a muscle that needs to be trained in order for information

to evolve into something revolutionary.

The strategies I will use to peer assess written assignments are: Fully knowing the

requirements to get full points, carefully reading over every paper or essay a few times while

assessing, and grading as fairly as possible. The strategies I will use to assess fellow students'

discussion assignments are: Reading the requirements for the assignment, inspecting the grading

rubric, and grading their project fairly based on the provided criteria for grading. By utilizing all

of these strategies I will be able to use peer assessment to the best of my abilities and continue to

improve over time.

Sources

Reading, T. U. of. (n.d.). Engage in Assessment. Engage in Assessment - Peer assessment-

University of Reading. https://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/peer-and-self-
assessment/peer-assessment/eia-peer-assessment.aspx.