The Quantification of Student Through Peer Assessment

One of the advantages of a networked and digital world is a nearly endless ability to capture and save data. And it is with the processing power that we now have that we can turn large data sets into something that is manageable and insightful. My first foray into the use of data sets in my English classroom (outside of marks) is the capture of peer evaluations every time a student is in front of the class.

In the past, I have handed out slips of paper for peer evaluation, but these were never looked at beyond a cursory glance after a presentation. So I've decided to use Google forms and Spreadsheet to capture and make this data usable to my students.

First, I took an existing performance chart of presentation skills I have used in my 2D English class and turned it into a Google form that quantifies each of the skills we are focussing on developing in the class this semester.

The link to this form will be shared to the class and every time a student presents, everyone will provide anonymous feedback. Like most data sets, a one time gathering will not yield particularly insightful information, but after 5 or 6 presentations throughout the semester, some patterns will emerge.

In order to identify these patterns, students will be able to use the data collected and sorted (using filters) to create a line graph or scatter chart to see consistencies of performance, or hopefully a steady improvement. With this data set, students should be able to identify areas of weakness, strength, and inconsistency in order to target skills development. This should also help eliminate the bias we all have of focussing on the good and the bad, but never the mediocre.

I have just started this process and will provide an update when I begin to see significant enough data to develop insight.

TIPS: When you are creating the drop down menu of student names (aka Choose From List), you can just copy and paste your digital class list into the first option and Forms will automatically create a new selection option for each name. HUGE time-saver.

Also, make sure that the "Name of Presenter" question is a "Required Question" (click box at bottom of question creation) or the students may not be able to find data intended for them.

Finally, if you are using Forms as part of GAFE (Google Apps For Education), you can choose whether the data collected is anonymous or has the student's account attached. I prefer anonymous to hopefully get a more honest response.