Configuring the Grading of a peerScholar Assignment

A student’s grade for an assignment is calculated using the grading configuration that the instructor set up in peerScholar. There are three main considerations for grading:

1. Student participation (in the peer review phases)
2. Peer ratings
3. Instructor or teaching assistant evaluations

Each of the three main considerations is optional but at least one option must be chosen if a grade will be awarded via peerScholar. Some activities will include participation, peer assessment and ratings, and instructor grades as part of the student’s overall grade. Other assignments may include peer review but the instructor is fully responsible for grading the assignment. There are many scenarios based on the type of assignment, the learning outcomes, and the evaluation scheme.

There are two areas of peerScholar where evaluation of an assignment can be configured:

1. Build Activity: Assess and Reflect Sections
2. Customize Grading

Build Activity

Assess phase

There are several things to consider when setting up the Assess phase of the assignment. Each of these will impact grading.

1. Number of peers reviewing and providing feedback
   • peerScholar assigns the grade using the mean, median, mode, and drop calculations, so a higher number of peer reviewers may mean a more accurate grade.
2. Types of assessment to use
   • Feedback provided via inline comments cannot contribute to a student’s grade. Similarly, a comments-type peerScholar assessment cannot contribute to a grade.
   • Instructors can create one or more assessments using the assignment requirements and the associated rubric; feedback and ratings provided via these assessments can contribute to a student’s grade.
3. Self-assessment
   • Students can assess their own work. Turning self-assessment on allows it to contribute to a student’s participation grade.

Reflect phase

There are several things to consider when setting up the Reflect phase of the assignment. Each of these will impact grading.

1. Revise and Resubmit
   • Turning Revise and Resubmit on allows it to contribute to a student’s participation grade.
2. Assess the Feedback
   • Turning Assess the Feedback on allows students to assess the feedback that their peer provided to them. Peer ratings can contribute to a student’s grade.

Customize Grading

peerScholar asks “What will be included in the final grade of this activity?” Instructors can customize the grading by considering and determining points for each of the following grading options:

1. Instructor/ Teaching Team Evaluations
   1. Generally, instructors will grade the final version of the assignment
   2. Instructors can grade a student using one or more assessments that were created using the assignment requirements and the associated rubric
2. Peer Ratings
   1. Generally, peers will review and provide feedback on the draft version of the assignment
   2. Students can contribute to a peer’s grade for the assignment by:
      • Completing the assessment(s) in the Assess phase
        • peerScholar will calculate the peer-assigned grade using mean, median, mode, or drop calculations of all peer ratings
        • The instructor can customize the points assigned via peer ratings. This value can be 0 if desired
      • Answering the question “How useful is this peers assessment and feedback?” in the Reflect phase
3. Student Participation
   1. Grades are generated automatically for each phase based on the options that the instructor chose and the points assigned.
   2. Assigning grades for participating in any phase of the peer review process is optional and customizable.

Sample customize grading table

The following table includes considerations for grading a peer review assignment in peerScholar.

Assessment Consideration	Phase	Assessment Task	Value /Points
Instructor/Teaching Team Evaluations Points will be awarded by the instructor or teaching assistant when all phases are complete and closed	Overall	The instructor can use one or more assessments to assess the final version of the assignment. The resulting grade will be an overall grade for the assignment	10
	Create	The instructor can assess the draft version of the assignment. The grade can be assigned during the Create phase	1
	Assess	The instructor can award point based on the students effort during the Assess phase	0
	Reflect	The instructor can assess the final version of the assignment to determine if the student reflected on and used the feedback that their peers provided	1
Peer Ratings Points can be awarded by peers via completion of assessments during the Assess phase	Create	Not applicable
	Assess	Generate assess grades for a student using the mean, median, mode of the assessments that students completed for their peers during the Assess phase	3
	Reflect	Generate reflect grades using the mean, median, mode of the student ratings of the usefulness of the feedback that a peer provided	1
Student Participation Points can be awarded by the system based on how the activity was built	Create	The student completed Entire Create Phase (including additional questions)	0
		The student submitted an Original Composition	1
	Assess	The student completed the Entire Assess Phase (including additional questions)	0
		The student submitted Feedback	1
		The student submitted Self Assessments in Assess phase	1
	Reflect	The student completed the Entire Reflect Phase (including additional questions)	0
		The student assessed Peer Feedback	0
		The student submitted a Revised Composition	1
Total:			20

Show/Hide the associated customize grading setup and summary

The following image shows the grading setup, based on the table above, and a summary of the grades.