Peer assessment: an innovative tool for assessment in higher education

ABSTRACT

To determine the correlation between peer and instructor assessment. Correlation study. College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan [CPSP], in. department of Medical Education [DME] from November 2011 to March 2012. All participants enrolled in MCPS-Health Professions Education program of 2011-2013 [n=21 in 1[st] session and n=21 in 2[nd] session] consented for inclusion in the study. During contact sessions the participants gave lecture presentations of 10 minutes duration, on topics of their choice but preferably related to medical education. The lecture was appraised by both the instructors and the fellow participants using evaluation forms with 5 point Likert scale. Each aspect of the presentation was assessed and scored. The Pearson's coefficient of correlation, between scores awarded by participants and scores awarded by instructors was found to be 0.63 [p= 0.002] in the l[st] contact session. By 2[nd] contact session the correlation improved from moderate to high turning out to be 0.80 [p < 0.00l]. The study provides a sound evidence that; Peer assessment is comparable to faculty assessment and hence can be used more frequently to steer students' learning towards learning outcomes: