All,
I would appreciate your advice on this issue.
At the University Of Bath, we have been running trials in replacing our
paper-based peer-assessment procedures with WebPA. Initial results are
promising however we find that in some groups, not all students
participate (some are forgetful, or just can't be bothered).
The peer assessment is conducted in groups of 6, they are peer-assessed
only (i.e. no self-assessment) and there is no penalty for not taking
part. Their contribution is assessed using Likert scale 1-5 and 20% of
their marks are peer-moderated
So, lets take a look at a group of 6 students, students A,B,C,D,E,F.
Students E and F take part in WebPA but A-D do not. Students E and F
give everyone a score of 1 (excluding themselves). The group mark is
70%-so (0.2 x 70)=14 marks are peer moderated
The total received score is 2 for students A-D and 1 for students E-F.
The total awarded score is 0 for students A-D and 5 for students E-F
(according to the WebPA).
As Students E and F participated (and the others did not), their cake is
split into 5 slices, with scores of 1, each member of the team
(excluding themselves) gets a fractional score of 0.2.
This is where it gets interesting, as now a fudge factor is applied, in
this case 6 students/2 students = 3.
Because Students A-D get two scores of 1, their WebPA scores are
(0.2+0.2)x3=1.2 each, so the final marks are 56%+(1.2 x 14)=72.8%
Students E-F only get one score of 1 (from each other) so their WebPA
scores are 0.2 x 3=0.6 each. The final marks are 56%+(0.6x14)=64.4%
So, in summary students E-F are hard done by, getting lower marks
despite thinking that everyone was rubbish and participating in the
WebPA process. Students A-D are laughing as they have had their marks
increased by doing nothing.
If students E-F, give all scores of 5. The marks come out the same!
Is this right or have I made a miscalculation? We are considering:
1. Adding a penalty to non-participation
2. Adding self-peer assessment (so students E-F have a say in their own
performance)
3. Discounting peer-moderated marks of groups with less than 50%
participation.
Any thoughts?
Best Regards,
Jeff Barrie
Dept of Mechanical Engineering
University of Bath
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