On‐line, peer assessment of written work in the final year of a B.Sc programme

Critical appraisal of research articles is a key skill but providing formative exercises for final year students is challenging. Our aim was to develop an effective and efficient formative exercise. We choose to use the Self and Peer Assessment (SPA) Building Block (Blackboard 9) as it allows submissions to be driven by questions and evaluations by criteria and annonymises the users. The exercise required students to write a critical evaluation of two papers that reported irreconcilable findings, the inference being that one at least was flawed. Access to the papers and the link into the SPA tool was contingent on students scoring full marks in a quiz that tested knowledge of timescales, the philosophy of peer assessment and the faculty's marking criteria. In the evaluation phase, students were required to grade and provide feedback to three anonymous peers. Final year students (n=122; anatomy, physiology and neuroscience) completed the submission and evaluation phases. The marks (average of 3) awarded by peers were non‐normally distributed, ranging from 14% to 80% with a median of 62%, very similar to the spread of marks for staff marked library projects. Students report a deeper understanding of what critical evaluation requires and an enhanced ability to self‐evaluate future coursework assignments. In conclusion, on‐line peer assessment can effectively support critical skills development for final year students.