Responding to student feedback Individualising teamwork scores based on peer assessment

TL;DR

This paper presents a peer assessment method to individualize teamwork scores, improving fairness and cooperation among students in engineering courses by using peer evaluations to adjust individual marks.

Contribution

It introduces a peer assessment approach to personalize team marks, addressing fairness issues and enhancing teamwork and engagement based on course data analysis.

Findings

Peer assessment improved team cooperation.

Individualized marks increased fairness perceptions.

Enhanced student engagement with the course.

Abstract

Teamwork assessments often result in a single final product, for which all team members receive a single mark regardless of their contribution to the team project. In order to respond to feedback from students in terms of fair marking of the teamwork assessment, we implemented peer assessment as a recommended pedagogical intervention to individualise team marks and prevent team members from taking advantage of free riding. Team marks were individualised proportional to the average peer assessment mark each student received from their peers in the team. We analysed course evaluation data before and after the implementation of the peer assessment process from students participating in Engineering Design courses. Analysing data in light of Social Interdependence Theory showed that the peer assessment process improved the cooperation of the team members which enhanced the students teamwork experience and their engagement with the course.