FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation

Background and justification of the project

Currently, there is no TU/e supported tool that supports self and peer assessment. Canvas offers peer review possibilities for one to one review, which is not sufficient for peer assessment goals.

There is a need for a tool that enables students to evaluate each other’s contribution to the project. In my course, students submit a group assignment which receives a group grade. However, I would like to differentiate in the final grades of the group members, based on the individual input of each student. Students should evaluate their team members and themselves in two ways: by grading the contribution of their team members and their own contribution, and by providing a textual specification of the contribution of each team member and of themselves. The textual specifications of the contributions allow me to check the relevance and validity of the given grades. By means of these grades and the group grade, I can then differentiate in the grades of the individual group members. In this way, students feel more responsible for their own contribution, and free-riding can be prevented and reliably detected. Besides that, students think it’s not fair if all students get the same grade for the assignment. They appreciate the possibility to give feedback on everybody’s contribution.

I already did this peer assessment process twice using TeamMates, which is an external tool not supported by the TU/e and not embedded in Canvas. I would like to use a tool which can be embedded in Canvas, for administrative reasons but mostly for the fact that students can then find everything in one place, namely Canvas. When FeedbackFruits is embedded in Canvas, students reliably get notifications and see deadlines, so that they don’t forget to actually submit the peer assessment. Missing peer reviews is now the biggest problem in TeamMates.

Objectives and expected outcomes of the project

The objective of the project is that a digital peer assessment tool is embedded in the education process. The use of this tool enables grading the students based on their actual input. This digital tool is easy and makes it possible to digitalize the whole peer assessment process.

The expected outcomes are 1: FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation is embedded in Canvas and 2: there is a pilot in Q1 2019.

The pilot will be evaluated in the course evaluation. Also a student panel will be asked to give feedback on the course, specifically on the peer assessment process. Based on the results, FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation can be further disseminated at an educational day.

Project design and management

Embed the tool in Canvas via API (Jan/Feb 2019)
Develop/design pilot with the Teacher Supporter (Q4 2018-2019)
Live phase of the course and the pilot (Q1 2019)
Evaluation of the pilots (Nov/Dec 2019)
Follow-up + dissemination (Dec 2019)

A risk is that the tool is not embedded in Canvas on time. A success factor is that the tool can facilitate peer assessment and self-assessment.

Dissemination and sustainability of the project

When the pilots are successful, more teachers can use the tool. An important candidate is Design Based Learning, which is obligatory in several Bachelor Courses. Students certainly see the potential, as is illustrated by the following literal quote from a student in the 4TC00 TeamMates course evaluation from 2017-2018:

Peer review: very good system. Results in fair grades. This exact system should be used for all DBL courses!

Teachers will be informed about the tool by the departmental teacher supporter and can see a presentation about the project results at an educational day.

Results and learnings

This project is currently still ongoing