Grading peer assessment

Find more information about implementing peer assessment of teamwork.

Should peer assessment (PA) count toward an assignment grade and if so, to what extent?

Whether or not PA counts toward students’ assignment grade should depend on the goal(s) of the assignment.^[1][2] PA that takes place early or mid-way through an assignment typically aims to let students know how they are doing, and gives them a chance to learn and improve. In these cases, PA does not need to be graded. PA that takes place toward (or at) the end of an assignment typically aims to let students know how they did, often with a letter or numeric grade.

You might want to communicate to students the value of team interdependence while still emphasizing the importance of students’ individual contributions to their team. PA can count for a percentage of a student’s grade, typically limited to 5-25% of a given assignment.^[1][3][4][5] Thus, each student’s individual grade reflects both the team assignment grade and the student’s contributions as assessed by their peers.^[3] Here are two examples of how this assessment can be calculated:

• A student’s grade may be composed of a group grade (the same grade is assigned to all group members) plus an individual grade (each student’s individual grade is assigned based on peer assessments).^[3] For example, 90% of a student’s grade may be based on the group grade (i.e., for the assignment product) and 10% based on their own and their peers’ assessments of their contributions (i.e., the teamwork experience). See Assignment % calculation for sample calculations that illustrate varying ranges of impact on students’ grades when PA is based on different assignment percent calculations.

• A student’s grade may be determined by applying an adjustment factor to the group grade based on PA. An adjustment factor is a way to calculate individual student grades taking into consideration the assessment of the group assignment, as well as individual student contributions based on self and peer assessments. See Factor calculation for sample calculations that illustrate varying ranges of impact on students’ grades when PA is based on an adjustment factor calculation.

Instructors may consider whether students also receive a grade for completing an assessment of their peers, which can encourage students to take the task seriously and provide constructive comments.^[1][4] In all cases, it is important that the purpose and implementation method of grading decisions be clearly explained to students and be easy for them to understand.

Some students will be pleased to have their teamwork contributions assessed by peers. However, students who have been accustomed to receiving good grades for group assignments despite their limited individual contribution may be less pleased with the process or their resulting grade. Discussing with students early on, such as during the storming and norming stages, the extent to which PA will impact individual grades is important. It may also be helpful to integrate short readings, such as “Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes on Teams”^[6] or “Tips for Dealing with Free Riders: A Handout for Students”.^[7] Such readings can help students identify when team members aren’t contributing to a team and then consider the impact of this behavior. These readings also offer ideas for how students may address the issue of a team member who is not doing their part. Having a small percentage of students’ grade be informed by PA may mitigate concerns about teamwork, as students understand that peers’ contributions to the assignment—or lack thereof—will be reflected in their grade.^[1]

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Assignment % calculation

Sample calculations with the peer assessment weighing at 5%, 10% and 25% are provided below to help determine to what extent you would like peer assessments to have an impact on students’ assignment grades.

View a peer grading calculation tutorial (TLS video, ~5 min).

Explanation of calculations when PA counts for 5%, 10%, or 25% of a student’s assignment grade:

5%       (.95 x team assignment grade) + (.05 x individual average of self and peer assessments)
Example: Fatameh: (.95 x 77) + (.05 x 85) = 73.15 + 4.25 = 77.4

10%     (.90 x team assignment grade) + (.1 x individual average of self and peer assessments)
Example: Fatameh: (.9 x 77) + (.1 x 85) = 69.3 + 8.5 = 77.8

25%     (.75 x team assignment grade) + (.25 x individual average of self and peer assessments)
Example: Fatameh: (.75 x 77) + (.25 x 85) = 57.75 + 21.25 = 79

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Factor calculation^†

Download this spreadsheet (.xlsx) to help you factor peer assessment into an assignment.

^†Adapted from Oakley et al.^[6]

^††The adjustment factor determines how far apart a student’s individual assignment grade is from the team assignment grade. To limit the impact of student ratings on their peers’ assignment grades, instructors can set maximum and minimum adjustment factors. For example, some authors have recommended that the maximum adjustment factor be set at 1.05 in cases where the calculated number exceeds 1.05.^[6] An instructor at our university has recommended a minimum adjustment factor be set at .95 in cases where the calculated number is lower than .95.

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References

^[1]Baker, D. F. (2008). Peer assessment in small groups: A comparison of methods. Journal of Management Education, 32(2), 183-209.

^[2]Elliott, N., & Higgins, A. (2005). Self and peer assessment – does it make a difference to student group work? Nurse Education in Practice, 5(1), 40-48.

^[3]Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons.

^[4]Hillier, J., & Dunn-Jensen, L. M. (2012). Groups meet ... teams improve. Journal of Management Education, 37(5), 704-733.

^[5]Williams, S. J. (2016). An approach for the assessment and allocation of individual grades for group-based, collaborative work by combining self-assessment, group-evaluation and wiki data: Results from an action research. In S. Tang & L. Logonnathan (Eds.). Assessment for Learning Within and Beyond the Classroom (pp. 361-372). Springer.

^[6]Oakley, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R., & Elhajj, I. (2004). Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(1), 9-34.

^{[37 7]}Weimer, M. (2021). Tips for dealing with free riders: A handout for students. The Teaching Professor.

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