Adaptive matching in peer assessment “SMARTCO” an inter-college approach.

Abstract

Peer Assessment (PA) is considered to be an innovative learning process where a student assesses other students. A brief presentation of PA background, designing issues and the PA tools takes place. A review of adaptive PA studies and a categorization relative to the varying designing factor is presented. The study proposes an inter-college approach for PA applied to scientific essay writing. Emphasis is given to the designing factors, the reviewing criteria and the matching algorithm. The method for validating the proposed algorithm is described with emphasis on the procedure design, the implementation of the online supporting information system and the questionnaire that students filled at the end of the process. Empirical results follow with some interesting suggestions regarding the human factor. Results referring to the students’ improvement are not clear because further actions need to be taken to validate them. The results from the survey, that measure students’ attitude toward PA, were more promising and proved that students accepted the PA activity. Finally, the conclusions and further extensions are presented.