Enhancing University Students’ Interaction and Learning through Formative Peer-Assessment Online - Collaborative Technologies and Applications for Interactive Information Design - page 66

long as ten weeks which made it easy for them to
devote time to engaging in peer assessment.All of
them had some previous experience of academic
studies. Yet many of our students are new to aca-
demic studies and conduct their studies entirely
online in courses that are only five weeks. Could
the peer assessment element also be introduced
in this type of course?
Some promising results from our implementa-
tion of peer assessment in one of our online courses
shows the same engagement in these students'
approach to the peer assessment activities as
in the case of the special needs teacher training
programme students. Some of the statements from
an evaluation questionnaire in this five week long
course show that many of these students believed
that their participation in peer assessment had
helped them crack some of the academic codes
and thereby enhanced their learning. We believe
that adding audiovisual techniques to enable the
students to participate in conclusive discussions
would be especially valuable in these types of
shorter non-programme courses, but what type
and to what amount is yet to be tried. All in all,
our experiences of peer assessment in online and
distance education shows promising signs of being
valuable for stimulating deep collaboration and
enhancement of the students' learning.

Black, A. (2005). The use of asynchronous dis-
cussion: Creating a text of talk. Contemporary
Issues in Technology & Teacher Education , 5 (1),
5-24.

Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable Assessment: Re-
thinking assessment for the learning society .
Studies in Continuing Education , 22 (2), 151-167.
doi:10.1080/713695728

Falchikov, N., & Goldfinch, J. (2000). Student Peer
Assessment in Higher Education:A Meta-Analysis
Comparing Peer and Teacher Marks. Review of
Educational Research , 70 (3), 287-322.

Fung, Y. (2004). Collaborative online learn-
ing: interaction patterns and limiting fac-
tors. Open Learning , 19 (2), 135-149.
doi:10.1080/0268051042000224743

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2004). Does your as-
sessment support your students learning? Learning
and Teaching in Higher Education , 1 (1), 3-31.

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2004-05). Conditions
under which Assessment Supports Students'
Learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education , 1 , 1-29.

Head, G. (2003). Effective collaboration: deep
collaboration as an essential element of the learn-
ing process. Journal of Educational Enquiry ,
4 (2), 47-62.

reFerenCes

Henri, F. (1991). Computer Conferencing and
Content Analysis. In A.R. Kaye (Ed.) Collabora-
tive Learning Through Computer Conferencing.
The Najaden Papers. Berlin: Springer Verlag.

Anderson, T., Howe, C., Soden, R., Halliday, J.,
& Low, J. (2001). Peer interaction and the learn-
ing of critical thinking skills in further educa-
tion students . Instructional Science , 29 , 1-32.
doi:10.1023/A:1026471702353

Hult, A. (2005). Examination över nätet - en
studie av 10 nätuniversitetskurser . Umea, Sweden:
UCER/ Umea Centre for Evaluation Research.

Becker, H. S., Geer, B., & Hughes, E. C. (1968).
Making the grade: the academic side of college
life. New York: Wiley

Hult, A. (2007). Examinationen är kursen - En
analys av examination i kurser över nätet. Swedish
Agency for Networks and cooperation in Higher
Education.