Daniel Coyle (2018): The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. Penguin Random House

Coyle cites a study that found: 19 Words of “wise feedback” had a dramatic positive effect on students’ learning.

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.

Source: Yeager, David Scott et. al. (2014): Breaking the cycle of mistrust: Wise interventions to provide critical feedback across the racial divide. Journal of Experimental Psychology, April 2014, , Vol. 143, No. 2, 804 – 824.  DOI: 10.1037/a0033906

Lehmann, K.; Söllner, M. & Leimeister, J. M. (2016): Design and Evaluation of an IT-based Peer Assessment to Increase Learner Performance in Large-Scale Lectures. In: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Dublin, Ireland.

Learning Benefits of Peer Assessment (Lehmann et. al 2016)

• Logistically: Lecturers save valuable time if learners give each other feedback and evaluate each other’s academic performance (Sadler and Good 2006).
• Pedagogically: The evaluation of responses regarding correctness gives the learner a deeper understanding of the learning contents (Chang et al. 2011). By reading works of others, one can deepen one’s own knowledge and develop new ideas and inspiration by evaluating other points of view (Chen 2010; Hovardas et al. 2014; Sadler and Good 2006).
• Metacognitive: Learners will develop awareness for their own strengths and weaknesses (Tahir 2012) and will be able to compare and evaluate their own performance with their peers, at least to a certain extent (Darling-Hammond et al. 1995). Doing so, learners learn to avoid shortcomings (Chang et al. 2012). In addition, learners train their ability to think critically, as well as their evaluation and reflection skills (Jaillet 2009; Leijen et al. 2009; Topping 2005).
• Affectively: Learners perceive qualitative feedback from their peer group as more valuable than a lecturer’s grade (Sadler and Good 2006).
• It enhances your students’ active engagement with their studies.
• It increases the amount of feedback your students receive, and they get it more quickly than if you do it yourself.
• It augments students’ disciplinary understanding since peer feedback invariably requires explanation and justification.
• The process of reviewing the work of others helps students understand what is considered good work and why, thereby increasing their ability to achieve.
• Boud et al 2006: (1) the development of learning outcomes related to collaboration, teamwork, and becoming a member of a learning community; (2) critical enquiry and reflection; (3) communication skills; and (4) learning to learn.

Risks related to peer assessment (Lehmann et al 2016: 4)

• Jaillet et al. (2009) alert the assessment doing by the peers can pose validity and reliability problems which calls for further investigation.
• Some studies emphasize learners’ anxieties about the fairness and consistency of peer assessment (Cheng and Warren 1997; Rushton 1993).
• Some authors’ investigation indicate that learners with poorer performances might not accept peer feedback as proper (Topping 2005) and might be unwilling to assume any responsibility for assessing their peers, especially in a non-anonymous setting (Falchikov 1995).
• Moreover, learners could feel overstrained as well as frustrated when facing a complex assessment form, e.g., extensive qualitative feedback (Hovardas et al. 2014).
• When learners receive poor quality feedback from their peers, it could frustrate them in their learning (Mintzes et al. 2005).