The interpersonal nature of interactions in peer assessment: focus on anonymity and students' personality

In peer assessment and feedback activities, students’ perceptions towards interpersonal variables (for example friendship marking, fear of disapproval when giving low scores, distrust in own and others’ evaluative capabilities) can be decisive when students interpret assessment and feedback from peers, since it might negatively affect the outcomes of the activity. Furthermore, it is assumed that students’ perceptions concerning interpersonal variables in the peer assessment process are influenced by their personal characteristics. Therefore, classroom interventions that acknowledge the dispositions of students and the power of peers in this process are needed. To decrease possible negative social effects, guaranteeing anonymity for the assessors has been explored. In this quasi-experimental study with 39 third-year bachelor students in Educational Studies, Mobile Response Technology (MRT) has been implemented which enables automatized data gathering of quantitative assessment and qualitative feedback. This study explores (1) secondary students’ perceptions towards the new tool within an anonymous face-to-face peer assessment setting and (2) students’ perceptions towards interpersonal variables. Moreover,(3) the relationship between the interpersonal variables and students’ personality factors is studied. This study shows that MRT is an easy-to-use tool for facilitating face-to-face peer assessment practices since it offers the opportunity for immediate assessment and feedback, which is highly appreciated by students. Furthermore, providing anonymity to peer assessors results in positive perceptions towards interpersonal variables that might negatively affect the outcomes of the assessment activity. The present findings also point at the importance of considering students’ personality factors in future studies on the implementation of likewise formative assessment activities