Learning by assessing: using online student peer-assessment to improve student's learning in political science

Baudewyns, Pierre [UCL] Docq, Françoise [UCL] Legrand , Vincent [UCL] Michel, Marianne [UCL] Pellon, Gaëlle [UCL] Reuchamps, Min [UCL] Vandamme, Dorothée [UCL]

(eng) While the value of student peer-assessment (SPA) is now largely acknowledged, it can be problematic for teachers to implement such a method in large groups and to ensure that students accept and benefit from it. This Working Paper focuses on this issue learning from the experience of implementing SPA with first year bachelor students following an introductory course in political science at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). To this end, this article is twofold: on the one hand, it presents the project that was implemented both in its objectives and its design and, on the other hand, it discusses its impact on the students, as measured by original data collected along the implementation of SPA. The findings show that online SPA has a positive impact for the students in terms of increasing their (perceived) abilities. The research also delivers interesting results concerning students’ post-SPA perceptions of their ability to assess their peers’ works and of their peers’ ability to assess their own works.