Scripting the role of assessor and assessee in peer assessment in a wiki environment: Impact on peer feedback quality and product improvement

• Published in: Computers and education 2015-10, Vol.88, p.370-386
• Main Authors: Gielen, Mario, De Wever, Bram
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Construction; Control systems; Control theory; Education; Feedback; Information management; Information resources; Online peer assessment; Peer feedback; Scripting; Students; The role of assessor and assessee; Wiki environment
• ISSN: 0360-1315; 1873-782X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2015.07.012

This study investigates how an instructional intervention focused on engaging both the assessor and assessee in the peer feedback process can be advantageous for the quality of students' peer feedback and written product in a wiki-based computer-supported collaborative learning environment in the first year of higher education. The main aim was to examine the effect of structuring the role of the assessee and/or assessor by respectively providing them with a peer feedback request and/or content checklist, together with a structured peer feedback template. The present study adopted a 2×2 design, in which four conditions were compared: (1) a control condition, (2) a feedback request condition, (3) a content checklist condition, and (4) a combination (feedback request + content checklist) condition. Every student (N = 125) belonged to a group (n = 27) of five and had to fulfil three consecutive assignments, each consisting of writing an abstract for a scientific paper in the wiki. The results revealed that the quality of both peer feedback and the final product increased for all conditions over time, but no significant differences were found between the conditions at time 2 and time 3. However, when the role of the assessee is structured to request for particular peer feedback, this appeared to be favourable for the peer feedback scores, but only at the initial stage of performance. Building on this, limitations, practical implications, and directions for future research are presented. •Examining the impact of scripting the role of both assessor and assessee in PA.•The role of assessee is structured to formulate a PFB request during PFB process.•The assessor is structured to complete a content checklist before providing PFB.•Peer feedback quality and product improvement increases over time.•Additional structure is valuable, especially at the initial stage of performance.