{"id":13257,"date":"2025-08-21T09:46:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13257"},"modified":"2025-09-10T09:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T08:26:32","slug":"rethinking-assessment-why-peer-feedback-matters-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/rethinking-assessment-why-peer-feedback-matters-more-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking assessment: Why peer feedback matters more than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Julian Hopkins, University of Glasgow <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the rapid rise of generative AI and growing student cohorts, universities are under pressure to rethink traditional assessment practices. How can we ensure that assessments remain meaningful, equitable, and aligned with the skills graduates truly need? This blog post explores the increasing value of peer assessment as a scalable, authentic approach to enhancing student engagement and supporting the development of graduate attributes across disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rationale for change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Responding to these challenges requires us to reconsider not just how we assess, but why. Simon\u2019s important reminder that, \u201cLearning results\u2026 only<\/em> from what the student does and thinks\u201d (in Ambrose et al., 2010: 1; emphasis added) should be at the centre of the shift towards active, student-centred learning, where the focus moves from assessment as a final product, towards \u201cassessment for\/as learning<\/em>\u201d (Stan\u010di\u0107, 2021: 852, original emphasis). This also aligns with the increased focus on authentic assessment: tasks that mirror professional practice and develop transferrable skills. These authentic assessments help learners develop graduate attributes such as time management, collaboration, and communication. In other words, redesigning assessment means that students can use and understand assessment as a means to self-improvement, rather than a tick box exercise to obtain a certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why peer assessment matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One approach that aligns strongly with these aims and offers both pedagogical and practical benefits is peer assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peer assessment involves students giving structured feedback on each other\u2019s work using defined criteria, often with the aim of enhancing learning, reflection, and collaboration. The literature offers strong evidence that peer assessment enhances meaningful assessment and supports the development of graduate attributes (e.g. Serrano-Aguilera et al., 2021: 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through peer assessment, students improve their subject knowledge by reviewing their peers\u2019 responses to the same tasks, preparing and giving feedback, and reflecting on the feedback they receive (Reddy et al., 2021). Students also communicate more effectively with their peers, helping to build a community of practice (Reddy et al., 2021: 825, 833).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better understand the varied practices that fall under peer assessment, it is useful to distinguish between its different forms and purposes. Helden et al.\u2019s typology (2023: 22953) groups three types of peer-based assessment activity under the umbrella term of peer assessment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peer review<\/td>Students review other students\u2019 work and provide formative feedback<\/td><\/tr>
Peer grading<\/td>Students provide grades on other students\u2019 work (in a summative or formative context)<\/td><\/tr>
Peer evaluation<\/td>Students evaluate each other\u2019s contributions to common group work<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Challenges to effective peer assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are potential cognitive, affective and behavioural challenges to effective teamwork and peer assessment (Sridharan et al., 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n