International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Volume 3, Number 1, January 2009
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to current issues pageResearch Article
Excerpt
Click or clique? Using Educational Technology to Address Students’
Anxieties About Peer Evaluation
Peer bias is recognised as a primary factor in negative student
perceptions of peer assessment strategies. This study trialled the use
of classroom response systems, widely known as clickers, in small seminar
classes in order to actively engage students in their subject’s
assessment process while providing the anonymity that would lessen the
impact of peer pressure. Focus group reflection on the students’
impressions of the peer evaluation process, the use of clickers, and
their anxieties about potential peer bias were analysed in the light
of the results of teacher and class evaluations of each individual student
presentation. The findings revealed that students recognised the value
of peer assessment in promoting class engagement and active learning,
despite their ongoing resistance to the practice of peer review. An
unexpected finding suggested that the clickers, selected as an educational
technology for their appeal and ease of use by the ‘digital native’
student already familiar with a variety of mobile communication and
gaming devices, reinforced student perception that the peer review process
was akin to
a popularity contest.
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Ruth Walker
University of Wollongong
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
rwalker@uow.edu.au
As a Learning Development lecturer, I work with students and faculty staff to encourage the development of academic literacies and improve student learning. My Ph.D. thesis from the University of Sydney focused on the experimentation with emerging film and sound media by a selection of early twentieth century authors, and my interest in the impact of media technologies on critical writing practice has carried through to my current work in higher education. I am particularly interested in the impact of popular media on academic cultures, and am currently working on a research project related to new media, plagiarism, and writing voice.
Graham Barwell
University of Wollongong
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
gbarwell@uow.edu.au
I am an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong, where I teach Media and Cultural Studies, and English Studies. My higher degrees are in Old Icelandic and Early Modern English Literature. I have a longstanding interest in educational technologies in research and in teaching. My interest in overcoming the drudgery of scholarly editing led into an early engagement with computing technologies in humanities research, which in turn led to a wider interest in the popular cultural forms and practices enabled by those technologies. My research and publications have followed these developing interests, as has my teaching. I have used a variety of technologies in my teaching from electronic discussion lists in the mid-1990s to the clickers today.