Proposal Title

A tool that changes the way students learn through peer assessment: The ComPAIR Project at UBC

Session Type

Workshop

Room

P&A 117

Start Date

6-7-2017 1:45 PM

Keywords

peer feedback, peer evaluation

Primary Threads

Education Technologies and Innovative Resources

Abstract

This presentation introduces ComPAIR, an innovative peer feedback and teaching technology being developed at UBC that could change the way we interact with students, and how they interact with each other.

Particularly in introductory courses, the effectiveness of peer feedback can be limited by the relative newness of students to both the course content and the skills involved in providing good feedback. ComPAIR’s novel design makes use of students’ inherent ability and desire to compare: according to the psychological principle of comparative judgement, novices are much better at choosing the “better” of two answers than they are at giving those answers an absolute score. By scaffolding peer feedback through comparisons, ComPAIR provides an engaging, simple, and safe environment that supports two distinct outcomes: 1) students learn how to assess their own work and that of others in a way that 2) facilitates the learning of subtle aspects of course content through the act of comparing.

We will review the results of an extended assessment of student experience with ComPAIR through three pilot courses in English, Physics and Math at UBC and give the session participants a chance to play with the software. We will also share the unique agile participatory development process of the software, which is changing the way faculty and programmers interact here at UBC.

Elements of Engagement

Participants will have the opportunity to actually engage with aspects of the software, from the perspective of an instructor, course administrator, and student. There will also be an interactive portion of the session to demonstrate how comparisons are used for learning.

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Jul 6th, 1:45 PM

A tool that changes the way students learn through peer assessment: The ComPAIR Project at UBC

P&A 117

This presentation introduces ComPAIR, an innovative peer feedback and teaching technology being developed at UBC that could change the way we interact with students, and how they interact with each other.

Particularly in introductory courses, the effectiveness of peer feedback can be limited by the relative newness of students to both the course content and the skills involved in providing good feedback. ComPAIR’s novel design makes use of students’ inherent ability and desire to compare: according to the psychological principle of comparative judgement, novices are much better at choosing the “better” of two answers than they are at giving those answers an absolute score. By scaffolding peer feedback through comparisons, ComPAIR provides an engaging, simple, and safe environment that supports two distinct outcomes: 1) students learn how to assess their own work and that of others in a way that 2) facilitates the learning of subtle aspects of course content through the act of comparing.

We will review the results of an extended assessment of student experience with ComPAIR through three pilot courses in English, Physics and Math at UBC and give the session participants a chance to play with the software. We will also share the unique agile participatory development process of the software, which is changing the way faculty and programmers interact here at UBC.