{"id":29258,"date":"2025-04-10T12:26:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hfd.phee.dev\/?p=29258"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:37:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:37:37","slug":"formative-peer-and-self-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hfd.phee.dev\/en\/formative-peer-and-self-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Learning Through Formative Peer- and Self-Assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]A common problem in traditional education is that students are passive recipients of feedback. Prof. Steve Joordens explains in this blog article how peer- and self-assessment can make students active participants in the evaluation process. This can turn assessments into an opportunity for reflection and skill development. It also helps students to develop critical thinking and self-awareness, ultimately leading to more meaningful learning.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]In education, one of our most persistent challenges is how to encourage deep learning\u2014learning that goes beyond memorization and fosters critical thinking, metacognition, and meaningful engagement. Traditional assessments, particularly high-stakes summative evaluations, play an essential role in measuring knowledge, but they are limited in their ability to promote the learning process itself.<\/p>\n

A promising alternative is formative peer- and self-assessment<\/strong>, which transforms assessment from a mere judgment tool into an active learning experience. When implemented effectively, these methods help students engage critically with content, reflect on their learning, and develop key 21st-century skills such as communication, collaboration, and self-regulation.<\/p>\n

Given the promise of formative peer- and self-assessment, my lab produced a tool called peerScholar that allows educators to formally harness this promise in a powerful but easy to use platform. The basic student experience is as follows. Students are first asked to create some draft composition, as individuals or groups, which they submit in the initiate Create Phase. They then log into the Assess Phase where they receive microlearning-based training on giving feedback, training they immediately put into practice as they peer-assess three or more peer compositions, and then self-assess their own. Finally, in the Reflect Phase they receive microlearning-based training on how to learn from feedback, then they answer questions about the feedback their draft composition received and then are then given the opportunity to use that feedback as they see fit to improve their composition for final submission. As a final step in this phase students are asked to reflect on the changes they chose to make, and to justify their thinking with respect to the recommendations they did not follow.<\/p>\n

So, what makes peer- and self-assessment so powerful, and how can we leverage them for maximum educational impact?<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]

\n \n

From Passive Receivers to Active Learners<\/h2>\n <\/div>[vc_column_text css=””]A common issue in traditional education is that students are passive recipients of feedback. They receive grades and comments from instructors, but often, they either fail to engage with the feedback or feel disempowered by the finality of the evaluation.<\/p>\n

Peer- and self-assessment change this dynamic by making students active participants in the assessment process.<\/strong><\/p>\n