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I have been following this discussion with interest. I have been using a branched version of Web-PA for two years with 70-80 3rd and 4th (final) year software engineering / information technology students. (Prior to that for 2 years I was using a manual system that very closely approximates Web-PA.) I do not know the percentage of international students (not something that as a lecturer I am given access to) but going on English language ability, I believe it would be 25-30%.

We ask students to both self- and peer-assess. My impression (as I have not attempted any analysis of the data) is that the international students, especially those from China and Singapore do not / are unable / are unwilling to critically assess both themselves and their peers. This is especially evident in the open text performance feedback we collect. Their numeric (5 point likert scale) and text feedback is very uniform across the team of 5-6 students. I have not noticed that they are harder on themselves than others in the team. If I get a team (they self-select) where there is 50% non-English speaking background and especially mainland Chinese, then my impression is that they tend to assess each other more highly than may be warranted (judged by other means of assessment and their other background team mates).

If this is categorised as "reluctance" then yes I have encountered it. I suspect in my case it is because they do not understand (language difficulties and cultural differences) how the peer assessed ratings are used to calculate individual marks from team marks. I have attempted to sit down with them and explain how it is used, but the students don't show up.

Cheers
Lynette



On 6/02/2013 01:54, Clare Hopkins wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite">

Hi Keith

 

Thanks for your response.  Web-PA was recently used to request formative peer assessment between team members (team size 5 or 6) in a large first year group (120) of engineering students when they had been working together for only 6 weeks. This was largely very helpful to them in highlighting areas for change/improvement. However we gained the impression (nothing stronger than that) that a small number of international students in this UK setting were being quite hard on themselves both in the numerical mark they self-awarded (only two criteria - attendance and quality of contribution) and in their narrative self-evaluations.  The feedback these students received from their peers was much more appreciative. Not all the international students taking part rated themselves in this way.  We wondered if, had this been later in the year, these students' self-evaluations might have been different.

 

My request to the list was to find out if anyone had noticed anything similar.

 

Thanks

 

Clare

 

 

From: WebPA [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Keith Pond [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 February 2013 14:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: international students

Hi Clare.

 

As with much “research” I have accumulated data on using Web_pa with students in Singapore – but it has yet to be written up.

 

I expected reluctance but actually found more engagement than with Uk based students on similar modules.  I was specifically testing out the text comments used in the newer version and the yet to be released feedback loop that I have been working on and have some data on each.

 

What exactly do you need to know?

 

Keith

 

Keith Pond

Associate Dean (Teaching)

School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University,

LOUGHBOROUGH, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom.

+44(0)1509 223290

Skype:keith.pond1

http://tinyurl.com/keithpond

 

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Description: teamgb-bse2011

 

From: WebPA [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Clare Hopkins
Sent: 05 February 2013 13:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: international students

 

Dear list members

 

I would be most interested to hear the perspectives of the experience of list members of international students using Web-PA. I am defining 'international' students as those who come from outside the EU.

Has anyone encountered any relectance of international students to use Web-PA? Or have you found that this student group rate themselves or others differently from other groups?

 

Many thanks

 

Clare Hopkins

Research Assistant


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