CAN PEER EVALUATION BE A SOCIAL INCENTIVE? P600/Research Proposal Background As educators learn more about how human beings learn best, they become more and more learner centered As Gueldenzoph and May claim “… instructional strategies are moving away from “lecture and learn” toward “collaborate and create.” (Gueldonzoph, May, 2002) Incorporation of group projects to the traditionally designed courses is one of the most used methods to assign the responsibility of learning to learners Fostering both social and cognitive abilities, group work has an invaluable place among the collaborative learning techniques However, evaluation of group work is a challenging issue How should students be assessed for their participation in group projects? How can an instructor encourage equal participation to group work? These are the questions facing any instructor who is worried about forming effective groups and fair grading Group conflicts may cause headaches for instructors but more importantly as Dyrud (2001) mentions students may develop a phobia about group work, which may really be harmful for their life after school Peer evaluation is one of the ways both to control group dynamics and to maintain a fair grading When we look at the literature there are controversial ideas about whether to use peer evaluation or not Cohen is against assessing individual contributions: “Never grade or evaluate students on their individual contributions to the group product Even if it were true that a student contributed almost nothing, it is never clear that the student is at fault Other students may have acted to exclude him or her from the process Since the individual’s lack of participation may be a consequence of a status problem, it is unfair to blame the victim for the group’s low expectations of him or her…It is better to look on such an event as a failure of the group work technique rather than as a failure of the individual student.” (Cohen, 1994) Cohen also quotes Awang Had who states that telling students that their individual contributions will be evaluated will have the effect of making low status students unwilling to risk active participation On the contrary Michaelsen, Knight and Fink assert that “… creating cohesive and effective learning teams requires using a grading system in which individual members’ contributions to the success of their teams and team performance are assessed and rewarded (Michaelsen, Knight, Fink, 2002) Another advantage of peer assessment that is of particular interest is that it can be used as a means of individualizing students’ grades in a collaborative learning context In this way, the kind of free-riding problem or unfairness of uniform grading within group described earlier can be discouraged by awarding students marks or grades based on their individual contributions to the group work (Cheng, Warren, 2000) Here is an interpretation closely related to the subject of my study: “I believe that peer evaluation should be an important component in team projects, not only because it is the simplest way for getting estimates of individual effort, but also because it encourages participation and cooperation and provides a sense of team ownership.” (Pimmel, 2002) In theory, peer evaluation appears to be an effective method of collaborative assessment However, the data obtained from most of the peer evaluation forms is limited to student perceptions Therefore, the validity of those perceptions and how to quantify them are other questions related to group work assessment Therefore, I believe that the peer evaluation data should not be a basic component of the grading system but peer evaluation could be used to prevent free riding and provide a base for even participation of the group members Kruck and Reif found out in their study about peer evaluation that most of the students, 80 percent, were not motivated by peer evaluations, indicating that these evaluations did not affect their contributions to the group Simultaneously students felt that peer evaluations motivated more than one-third of their group members to contribute more to the group’s success I have found this as an interesting contradiction and wanted to work on it The Present Study In this study, I will not be dealing with the role of peer evaluation on individualizing the grades or with the essential features of peer evaluation forms My question is whether students believe that the awareness of peer evaluation has a positive effect on the contributions of members of their group In this study peer evaluation has been implemented without including any threat of deduction in grades to obtain honest responses When there is threat of low grading, students may not want to cause a deduction in their peers’ grades even if they are not pleased with their participation level I have considered peer evaluation as a social incentive Methodology The subjects of the study were 28 undergraduate students in one of the Microeconomics courses at Indiana University The students had different class standings and were coming from various majors During the semester they have had to five homework in groups The instructor formed them into groups of two and three Each homework they were supposed to was composed of problems some of which require critical thinking and certain web searches For the first homework no peer evaluation was used However, immediately after the first homework they have filled out a survey which asked their opinions about group work This first homework served as a controlling factor to measure the effect of peer evaluation on students’ performance Listening to the advice that “Before peer evaluation tools can be effectively used in the classroom, the instructor should build the foundation Students must be provided a clear understanding about the who, what, when, why, and how of the collaborative experience as well as the assessment process.” (Gueldonzoph, May, 2002), the instructor informed the students before the second homework that they would be filling out peer evaluations after the completion of the second homework He posted them the criteria with which they will be evaluated by their teammates before they begin to deal with the second homework He also emphasized that the lower ratings would not bring about any deduction in their grades but the students who take higher ratings would be given bonus points according to a certain calculation system Mark and Michael (2001) present that no evidence had been found in the literature that one set of peer evaluation categories worked more effectively than any other The peer evaluation form used in this study (Appendix A) was tailored out of a peer evaluation form adapted from Farago, Cramer, and Sharon (1994) Two survey questions were added to this form to learn the views of students about the effect of peer evaluation Results The survey implemented after the first homework was composed of the following questions: Q: 1) What are the advantages of working in a group? Q: 2) What are the disadvantages of working in a group? Q: 3) Do you think each member of your group contributed to the result equally? Q: 4) Do you think working in a group influences the level of your motivation? If yes, is it a positive or negative influence, please explain 18 out of 28 students mentioned that working in a group influences their motivation positively The most mentioned reason about this positive influence was the social pressure they felt as a result of working in a group: Some examples from students’ responses: “Yes, I believe working in a group positively influences my motivation Since I’m in a group, I have to the work because if I don’t, not only will I be letting myself down, but the entire rest of the group too.” “It's a positive increase in motivation usually I want to well because more than just my grade depends on the results of the homework.” “Yes, if you have respect for other group members or for yourself it is a positive influence You want to look good in front of others and you don't want to let yourself down either.” The two survey questions added to the peer evaluation form were the following: 12) Before your team started working on this homework, team members knew that they would be evaluated by their teammates a) Did this information affect your performance positively with respect to the previous homework? (1) Yes (2) No Comments: b) Did this information affect your teammates' performance positively with respect to the previous homework? (1) Yes (2) No Comments: Even though there were a few comments on the positive effect of being aware of the peer evaluation on their contributions most of the answers reflected that this awareness did not bring about any considerable change Some examples from students’ responses: “We worked in the same fashion on both homeworks with little regard to the fact that we were going to be evaluated.” “Same amount of work done, but I was glad we knew we were getting evaluated.” Discussion As the results prove, no matter there is a peer evaluation process or not group work itself is motivating the equal contribution However, I think that this kind of motivation is only valid for responsible students When I compared the responses to the first survey with the responses to the survey about peer evaluation I realized that the students who thought after first homework that not each of their teammates contributed equally were the ones who provided positive comments about peer evaluation For instance one of them who was not pleased with his teammate’s contribution during the first homework made the following comment after the second homework in the survey: “… was a much better team player.” This proves that although peer evaluation may not have an effect on responsible students’ performance, its use is still legitimate where there are ones who tend to freeride Peer evaluation is a potential contributor to the social incentive that group work provides References Cheng, Winnie; Warren, Martin (2000) Making a Difference: using peers to assess individual students’ contributions to a group project Teaching in Higher Education, 5(2), 243-250 Cohen, E G (1994) Designing Group Work.Teachers College, New York & London Dyrud, Marilyn A (2001) Group Projects and Peer Review Business Communication Quarterly, 64(4), 106-11 Farago Cramer, Sharon (1994) Assessing Effectiveness in the Collaborative Classroom New Directions for Teaching and Learning, n59 Gueldenzoph, Lisa E.; May, Gary L (2002) Collaborative Peer Evaluation: Best Practices for Group Member Assessments Business Communication Quarterly, 65(1), 9-20 Kruck, S E.; Reif, Harry L (2001) Assessing Individual Student Performance in Collaborative Projects: A Case Study Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 19(2), 37-47 Lejk, Mark; Wyvill, Michael (2001) Peer Assessment of Contributions to a Group Project: A Comparison of Holistic and Category-based Approaches Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 26(1), 61-72 Michaelsen L.K., Knight A.B., Fink L.D Team Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups Praeger, Westport Pimmel, Russ (2002) Team monitoring and peer evaluation, http://129.219.116.31/Assess_PDFs/Monitoring.pdf APPENDIX A Peer Evaluation Form Instructions: Please evaluate your peers’ contributions, using a scale of to 5, with being the highest You should fill out an evaluation form for everyone in the group except yourself If you think that one of the items is not applicaple for your group work process, please select "no response" These ratings will not cause a deduction in your teammates' grades but high ratings will be used to give them bonus points So please be as precise as you can Your Name: The name of the member that you are evaluating: Team Number: ` The above member of your team 1) Shows up for team meetings (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 2) Produces the tasks that were agreed upon by the group (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 3) Volunteers when tasks need to be accomplished (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 4) Constructively develops ideas with group members (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 5) Makes helpful suggestions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 6) Is a careful listener (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 7) Demonstrates respect for other team members (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 8) Meets deadlines (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 9) Demonstrates interest in and knowledge of topic (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 10) Shares resources (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 11) Incorporates course materials and outside sources (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 12) Before your team started working on this homework, team members knew that they would be evaluated by their teammates a) Did this information affect your performance positively with respect to the previous homework? (1) Yes (2) No Comments: b) Did this information affect your teammates' performance positively with respect to the previous homework? (1) Yes (2) No Comments: ... than any other The peer evaluation form used in this study (Appendix A) was tailored out of a peer evaluation form adapted from Farago, Cramer, and Sharon (1994) Two survey questions were added... work assessment Therefore, I believe that the peer evaluation data should not be a basic component of the grading system but peer evaluation could be used to prevent free riding and provide a base...As educators learn more about how human beings learn best, they become more and more learner centered As Gueldenzoph and May claim “… instructional strategies are moving away from “lecture and