Dr. Daniel Sullivan

Today, we are spotlighting University of Delaware professors, Daniel Sullivan and Sharon Watson. They were Spring 2014 Faculty Research Grant Recipients for their proposal, “Peer assessment within hybrid an online courses: Evaluating students’ view of its potential and performance.”

We are thrilled to share their findings and thank them for participating in our Faculty Research Grant Program . Below is the abstract of the study along with a link to the full report.

Abstract

The scale and scope of online education increasingly expand. In tandem, interest grows among educators and scholars in understanding personal and contextual factors that moderate the efficient design and effective delivery of an online course or improve student

Dr. Sharon Watson

engagement. This paper looks at a theoretically robust method, peer assessment administered by the Canvas learning management system, and evaluates its potential and performance in university level hybrid and online courses. Cross sectional data profile students’ view, both prior to as well as post-experience, of aspects of the peer review process. Frequency analyses, mean comparisons, and t-tests highlight

students initial positive agreement with the potential but then subsequently weaker support of the value of peer assessment. Controlling for time and place did not moderate students’ views. Collectively, these results direct our attention to refining our interpretation of the contribution of peer assessment to student engagement in terms of the “anytime, anyplace” instrumentality of online education. The line of analysis, in turn, highlights the moderating influence of anonymity and the social dynamic of self-directed learning. We close with a series of pedagogical recommendations.

Click here for the final report, “Peer assessment within hybrid an online courses: Evaluating students’ view of its potential and performance.”