Use of peer assessment in an MSc course MSc in Sexually Transmitted Infections & HIV- Basic Science module Assessment: 70% end of module essay, 30% peer assessment 8 weekly formative peer assessments 1 final summative peer assessment

Formative peer assessment Each Friday afternoon student presentations are given marks by other students Marks are given using SurveyMonkey Marking criteria are chosen by students Anonymized marks are fed back each week Marks given in the first seven weeks are not used in final assessment

Summative peer assessment Marks given in week 8 contribute 30% to the final assessment The mark given should reflect overall performance throughout the term Consistency of marks with earlier assessments will be checked

Advantages Choosing marking criteria encourages thought and discussion about what students want from the module Formative assessments allow internal and external comparisons through the term and stimulate healthy competition among students SurveyMonkey is easy to use and free for surveys up to 10 questions and 100 participants

Problems Administration: design, mailing, collecting responses, analysis, feedback each week Choosing the best scale, eg 0-10 v. 0-5 and defining scale Failing students rescued by generous peer assessment Avoiding manipulation of final peer assessment

Future plans Transfer to Moodle/Opinio Delegate more to course administrator Address issue of collusion more effectively