CO-EVALUATION: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES, INSTRUMENTS, EXAMPLE - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The peer assessment is an educational activity in which students judge the performance of their peers as equals. It can take different forms depending on the characteristics of the way it is implemented, who the students are, and what the educational context is.

Co-evaluation is one of the three major results measurement systems used both in the educational context and in other areas. The other two are self-evaluation and hetero-evaluation or external evaluation. Each of them has a series of advantages and disadvantages, and they are more suitable for certain situations.

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Co-assessment can also vary greatly depending on whether it is used for summative purposes (that is, to deliver a grade, such as when a test is graded by a peer), or for informational purposes, such as when several students give feedback to one of them on their performance.

Co-evaluation, despite having appeared recently, has been shown to have very positive effects on students' ability to achieve. In addition, some research also suggests that it could improve students' self-regulation, their motivation, and their interpersonal skills.

Features, advantages and disadvantages

Despite the fact that it is a relatively recent technique, co-evaluation has developed very extensively since it began to be implemented in the educational field.

In recent decades, this evaluation method has undergone great expansion, so today it can be applied in many different ways.

For example, the co-evaluation can be used simply for informational purposes, applied in such a way that the results of the process do not influence the final grade of the students; but the reverse can also be the case, using this process as one of the main methods of assigning a grade to students.

In addition to this, the co-evaluation methods differ in many aspects, such as whether they are anonymous or not, or whether the work of each student is reviewed individually, in pairs or in groups.

However, all the forms this approach takes have a number of characteristics in common, which we will discuss below.

They save the teacher time

One of the main disadvantages of external evaluation is that a single person or a small group of them have to rate the work of a larger group.

This causes an effect known as a 'bottleneck', which means that the assessment process can take a long time and requires high levels of effort.

In fact, in certain settings where the number of students far exceeds the number of examiners, performance assessment can be extremely expensive. This can happen, for example, in processes such as public competitions, entrance exams to different educational centers, or some universities.

Although it is not applicable in all these situations in a generalized way, the co-evaluation could alleviate this problem to some extent, since it allows a significant saving of time in the process of grading the work of the students.

Increase learning

During an external evaluation procedure, students receive little information that allows them to learn from their mistakes or discover something new. Generally, the teacher is limited to giving them the correction of their exams, assignments or tasks, in such a way that the feedback they get is very little.

On the contrary, in a co-evaluation process the students are actively participating in the correction, which allows them to become familiar with the most common mistakes that other people similar to them make.

This can help them improve their own knowledge acquisition process, through what is known as "vicarious learning."

In addition to this, co-evaluation also allows students to internalize what they have learned. Many studies suggest that the fact of evaluating the work of other people or teaching others crystallizes the learning that we have already done, in such a way that they deepen and it becomes less likely that they are forgotten.

Not applicable in all situations

Despite all the advantages that co-evaluation processes can have, unfortunately it is neither possible nor desirable to apply them in all educational settings and contexts. In some of them, it is necessary for an expert to weigh the quality of the students' work, rather than for an equal.

This happens, for example, when the subject is very complex and requires expert knowledge to be able to evaluate it; or when the evaluation process has to follow a certain series of steps with which the person in charge of the exam must be very familiar.

Students carry it out naturally

Finally, one of the most interesting advantages of co-evaluation is that it is a process that students already carry out spontaneously. In virtually all educational contexts, it has been observed that students or learners help each other, assess themselves, and give advice on how they can improve.

In this way, if co-evaluation is implemented as one of the main methods of verifying the learning carried out by the students, the use of a skill already present in the students would be promoted.

This could not only increase their motivation and involvement, but it would probably lead to very good results in the medium and long term.

Types

There is no standardized classification of the different types of peer evaluation that exist. Even so, below we will see several criteria that can be used to divide the different versions that exist of this process.

Depending on the purpose

As we have already seen, one of the main differences that may exist between the different peer evaluation processes has to do with the result sought when applying them.

In some contexts, co-evaluation will be the only tool used to examine student work, while in others it will serve only as an aid to some other process.

Thus, informative co-evaluation can simply serve to improve student learning, expand their skills and generate more motivation in them; but it will not take the burden off the educator, who will have to correct their students' work anyway once this process is over.

On the other hand, "summative" co-evaluation implies that the final results of a test, examination or demonstration will be set by the peers of the person being examined.

This has all the advantages that we have already mentioned, but it can also lead to errors in the grades based on variables such as the personal relationship of the students with each other.

Anonymous vs. Personal

Another of the most common classifications of the different co-evaluations that can be made is based on whether the person evaluated knows who has given him a specific rating or not. In the first case, subjective factors such as the relationship between the two people are more likely to come into play than in the second.

On the other hand, there are also some co-evaluation processes in which the examiner does not know whose work he is correcting. This can only happen in some certain contexts, such as correcting an exam.

On some occasions, when neither the examiner nor the examinee know who the other is, there is talk of a "double-blind" evaluation process.

Depending on the participants

The most basic form that co-evaluation can take is that of two people exchanging their work and rating each other. However, this is not the only version of this process that exists.

For example, in some contexts it is also possible that several students form a tribunal that will be in charge of judging the performance of their peers. At other times, it could even be that a whole class or group had to decide the grade to be given to each of its members.

The dynamics that occur in each of these cases are very different, so each of them is more suitable for a series of particular contexts.

Instruments

The instruments that will be used in each co-evaluation process will depend to a great extent on the context in which the students are moving and the type of knowledge or skill that is going to be examined. For this reason, it is very difficult to make an exhaustive list of all the tools that could be used in this area.

However, each time a co-evaluation process is carried out, it will be necessary to create together with the students a list of evaluation criteria that will be used during it.

This will allow them to know what to look for specifically to examine the activity of their peers, and to focus their attention more effectively.

Example

One of the simplest forms of co-evaluation could be when students have had to carry out a series of exercises to apply the knowledge acquired in class.

In this context, the teacher could ask the students to exchange their results in pairs and compare them, trying to detect the mistakes they have made and where they have been wrong.

The educator could then share the correct answer, then asking the students to compare their classmates' work with it and give it a grade.

References

1. "Peer assessment" in: University of Reading. Retrieved on: June 04, 2019 from University of Reading: reading.ac.uk.
2. "Student peer assessment" in: UNSW Sidney. Retrieved on: June 04, 2019 from UNSW Sidney: unsw.edu.au.
3. Peer assessment in: Newcastle University. Retrieved on: June 04, 2019 from Newcastle University: ncl.ac.uk.
4. "Peer assessment" in: Stanford University. Retrieved on: June 04, 2019 from Stanford University: teachingcommons.stanford.edu.
5. "Peer assessment" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: June 04, 2019 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org.