
Contextual Background:
Foundation students are currently writing a self-initiated personal project proposal (PPP) to work on for the remaining 8 weeks of the course. I just completed a session where students give feedback on the PPP of a peer through a pitch using a visual aid. Until now, students have only received feedback from tutors and its key that they get varied feedback on their project at different stages.
“Sometimes students are better placed to assess their own or each other’s work. When students have been thinking deeply about something because they have been involved in actually doing it, perhaps for the first time, they are often able to make peer-assessment judgements on other students’ work ” (Race, 2012)
Evaluation:
My observation was that students have a tendency to exchange feedback with people they are familiar with socially, mostly people they regularly sit with on table groups. To address this, I randomised the groups for the feedback session by asking each student to blindly pick a number out of a box. Numbers went from 1 to 5, creating groups of 5 to 6 people each. Students then moved to the table with their number and pitched their proposals to them. To eliminate the anxiety around coming up with feedback on the spot, I provided 3 guiding questions and allowed for time to write down feedback after each one. I observed that randomising students to sit with new people created more focused and engaged listening and feedback of classmates. The act of pitching to people less familiar to them added a layer of seriousness that translated in a less colloquial and more critical environment.
Moving forwards
The 3 feedback questions provided helped initiate the feedback, but I was surprised to discover that they asked further questions after getting through the 3 provided. The provided questions seemed to break the ice and give them the confidence to formulate their own. Some students bringing in a supportive yet critical voice I hadn’t observed from the group until now. They seemed to take charge of the session.
“There is learning payoff associated with receiving feedback from one or more fellow students, but perhaps even greater learning payoff in formulating and giving feedback to other students” (Race, 2001)
Even though the randomising was successful, I did realise that I should have asked them to arrange the seating in a semi-circle of chairs rather than just sat around the table. Students that were sat a bit further from the speaker where having trouble hearing and had to rearrange seating to be closer. For future feedback sessions I need to pay more attention to the actual furniture of the room and even ask students to take ownership of their space. Would some groups prefer to sit on the floor? To go outside? Could they decide as a group what is the best arrangement for listening to each other?
References
Race, P. (2001) ‘A briefing on Self, Peer and Group Assessment’, Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), pp 4 – 24