Assessing the Assessors: Added Value in Web-Based Multi-Cycle Peer Assessment in Higher Education

Peer assessment has been shown as a productive strategy for supporting higher education students to learn from each other, yet it also evokes technical, pedagogical, and emotional challenges. This study seeks to benefit from the affordances of peer assessment while reducing typical tensions. Assessing-the-Assessors is an innovative approach to design and conduct web-supported multi-cycle peer assessment activities. The main notion in this approach is that peer assessment is conducted as an exercise to enhance learning; students are rewarded as assessors rather than assessees, while the formal grades for artifacts are provided by the instructor. This approach was implemented in 25 highereducation courses in various contexts with 848 students. Findings indicate that courses with multiple cycles of assessment were highly effective in promoting learning in three aspects: learners, instructors and social climate. Learners refined their artifacts, improved their ability to provide assessment, and increased their confidence in their ability to serve as assessors. Instructors were able to easily distinguish between student bias and their own bias, and to handle it appropriately. Social climate was productive; students’ attitudes were positive and their commitment was high. We recommend instructors to utilize the Assessing-the-Assessors approach for increasing the benefits of peer assessment in higher education.