Case 2
This study investigated the effects of online peer assessment via Peergrade in a General Education course on critical thinking (CT) among Hong Kong undergraduates, with a design characterised by six elements (i.e., OPA training, provision of guiding questions, peer feedback requirements, anonymity, student evaluation of the usefulness of peer feedback and summative use of OPA). Analysis of the participants’ e-journal entries revealed a significant improvement in CT in the experimental groups. Individual follow-up interviews indicated that the participants considered the provision of guiding questions to be less important than the other five design elements, which allowed them to practise their CT and to enhance their engagement in OPA. This study highlights the need to adopt a culturally embedded approach to design OPA to cultivate students’ CT in different contexts.　
Benefit
‘My tutor analysed a sample e-journal entry with us and conducted a Q&A session to ensure that we fully understood the guiding questions. We were then asked to independently assess another e-journal entry and to share and discuss our practice reviews with her. This was very useful for me to understand what I should bring to peer review and how to judge my classmates’ e-journal entries.’
‘I think that only the comments that focused on my weaknesses and gave specific suggestions on how to overcome these weaknesses helped me think more about my writing. When I received this type of comment, I compared and contrasted my thoughts and peers’ thoughts on the topic and tried to make more convincing arguments.’
‘As the tutoring class is very small and we know each other, it is difficult for us to make critical comments because we fear that it will affect our relationship. So it is good when we can give our opinion anonymously. This helps us share our opinions freely and critically.’
Challenge
‘Sometimes one mark makes a difference in your GPA. Without this incentive, it seems that what you do is worthless. We are used to be motivated to learn by our grades.’
‘Answering lengthy guiding questions made me feel exhausted. Without focusing on certain aspects, I tended to finish the task instead of thinking deeply.’