Students’ experiences of study-related exhaustion,regulation of learning,peer learning and peer support during university studies

The present mixed-method longitudinal study examines students’ experiences of study-related exhaustion, regulation of learning, peer learning and peer support during university studies. At the first measurement point, 188 first-year students completed the questionnaire. At the second measurement point, 91 of the 188 students participated in the follow-up study at their fourth study year and completed the same questionnaire again. Of these, twelve students were interviewed. The results showed that experienced study-related exhaustion and self-regulation of content increased during studies. However, the results also showed a large individual variation in experienced study-related exhaustion. The students whose exhaustion decreased described experiences of peer support that helped them to develop their self-regulation skills. Students whose study-related exhaustion remained low evaluated their self-regulation skills as good. They experienced that they did not need other students’ support in the regulation of learning. The students whose study-related exhaustion increased or remained high described more problems in self-regulation. Most students relied on peer support because of self-regulation problems. However, not all students used other students’ support despite of problems in studying. It can be concluded that regulation skills have a key role in experienced study-related exhaustion during studies.

     

Preservice mathematics teachers’ beliefs about peer feedback,perceptions of their peer feedback message,and emotions as predictors of peer feedback accuracy and comprehension of the learning task

Peer feedback is increasingly used to train assessment skills in teacher-training programs. However, studies investigating the roles of peer feedback providers’ beliefs about peer feedback provision, their perceptions of their peer feedback message and their experienced emotions are still limited. This study aimed to explore how peer feedback accuracy and providers’ comprehension of the learning task were related to these characteristics. Analysis of peer feedback provided by 53 preservice mathematics teachers revealed that peer feedback accuracy was predicted by cognitive-verification, cognitive elaboration and self-efficacy types of peer feedback. Providers’ perceptions of their peer feedback message and anxiety also predicted peer feedback accuracy. No evidence was found that peer feedback related beliefs and perceptions predicted providers’ comprehension of the learning task.     

Peer feedback on academic writing: undergraduate students’ peer feedback role,peer feedback perceptions and essay performance

Within the higher education context, peer feedback is frequently applied as an instructional method. Research on the learning mechanisms involved in the peer feedback process has covered aspects of both providing and receiving feedback. However, a direct comparison of the impact that providing and receiving peer feedback has on students’ writing performance is still lacking. The current study compared the writing performance of undergraduate students (N = 83) who either provided or received anonymous written peer feedback in the context of an authentic academic writing task. In addition, we investigated whether students’ peer feedback perceptions were related to the nature of the peer feedback they received and to writing performance. Results showed that both providing and receiving feedback led to similar improvements of writing performance. The presence of explanatory comments positively related both to how adequate students perceived the peer feedback to be, as well as to students’ willingness to improve based upon it. However, no direct relation was found between these peer feedback perceptions and students’ writing performance increase.     

A typology of approaches to peer tutoring. Unraveling peer tutors’ behavioural strategies

Peer tutors’ behaviour has been stated to have the power to create and increase learning opportunities within peer tutoring programs. However, previous studies have shown that peer tutors struggle to adopt facilitative and constructivist-oriented strategies, as they lean more towards directive and knowledge-telling strategies. This study aims to explore a typology of approaches to peer tutoring by unraveling peer tutors’ behavioural strategies and related approaches. Furthermore, it aims to grasp peer tutors’ behavioural repertoire in-depth by shedding light on the concerns and challenges they experience while tutoring. Results showed that peer tutors used a variety of strategies but were mainly inclined to adopt answering and directive actions. Their questioning behaviour remained relatively low level in terms of quality. Moreover, three types of peer tutors could be discerned, i.e. questioners, informers and motivational organisers. Finally, although all peer tutors reported diverse organisational, social and didactical concerns and challenges, results showed that different types of tutors struggled with different approach-specific issues and experienced tutoring in a slightly different manner. Taking these issues into account seems crucial for peer tutoring to reach its potential. Implications for peer tutoring programs and training of peer tutors are discussed.     

Students’ learning outcomes and peer rating accuracy in compulsory and voluntary online peer assessment

Peer assessment can be conducted online with rapid development of online learning technology. The current study was conducted empirically to investigate peer rating accuracy and student learning outcomes in online peer assessments, comparing compulsory and voluntary peer assessment. Section 1 (N?=?93) was assigned to the voluntary group and Section 2 (N?=?31) was assigned to the compulsory group. The results showed the voluntary group scored significantly higher than the compulsory group in the final task of the course, while there was no significant difference on the final task score increase. Students who participated in the voluntary group provided more accurate scores (i.e. peer rater accuracy) than those who participated in the compulsory group. The peer score leniency/severity rating, comparing peer assigned scores with the teacher assigned scores, were generally consistent with the peer rater accuracy results. The current study offers insights for researchers who are interested in studying the effect of online peer assessment activities. The results are also of interest for instructors who may want to conduct peer assessments in online courses and are choosing between compulsory and voluntary formats.     

Anonymity as an instructional scaffold in peer assessment: its effects on peer feedback quality and evolution in students’ perceptions about peer assessment skills

Although previous research has indicated that providing anonymity is an effective way to create a safe peer assessment setting, continuously ensuring anonymity prevents students from experiencing genuine two-way interactive feedback dialogues. The present study investigated how installing a transitional approach from an anonymous to a non-anonymous peer assessment setting can overcome this problem. A total of 46 bachelor’s degree students in Educational Studies participated in multiple peer assessment cycles in which groups of students assessed each other’s work. Both students’ evolution in peer feedback quality as well as their perceptions were measured. The content analysis of the peer feedback messages revealed that the quality of peer feedback increased in the anonymous phase, and that over time, the feedback in the consecutive non-anonymous sessions was of similar quality. The results also indicate that the transitional approach does not hinder the perceived growth in peer feedback skills, nor does it have a negative impact on their general conceptions towards peer assessment. Furthermore, students clearly differentiated between their attributed importance of anonymity and their view on the usefulness of a transitional approach. The findings suggest that anonymity can be a valuable scaffold to ease students’ importance level towards anonymity and their associated need for practice.     

The influences of integrating reading,peer evaluation,and discussion on undergraduate students’ scientific writing

Scientific writing is related to the practice of communicating scientific knowledge. This study treats scientific writing as a social practice, taking as its premise the notion that participating in related activities such as reading, peer evaluation, and discussion would positively affect the competence of students’ scientific writing, by developing their epistemic cognition regarding scientific knowledge communication and legitimation. An empirical study was conducted with twenty-two Chinese undergraduate students to test this premise. These students were majoring in chemistry and undertook a researcher-designed intervention course (Advanced Organic Chemistry Experiment), which embodied the integrated strategy of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion on scientific writing. Based on data pertaining to those students’ performance in terms of the normativity, objectivity, and logicality of scientific writing drawn from a previous study by the current author (Deng, Kelly, & Xiao, 2019. The development of Chinese undergraduate students’ competence of scientific writing in the context of advanced organic chemistry experiment course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20, 270–287), alongside data drawn from students’ written texts in reading reflections and on-line discourse related to peer evaluation and discussion, this study claimed that the tasks of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion were seen gradually to lead to the development of Chinese undergraduate students’ greater competence in scientific writing regarding the synthetic experiments of organic chemistry.     

Adult learners and professional development: peer‐to‐peer learning in a networked community

This paper analyses how adult learners on a professional development course learn and develop through online dialogue. The research uses Wenger’s community of practice framework, and assesses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in relation to this specific case study in which the students are practitioners and parents of individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The study focuses on peer‐to‐peer learning and analyses a sample of asynchronous online discussions from three separate online tutorial groups. The first part of the study combines quantitative analysis of distribution patterns, with qualitative discourse analysis that measures central concepts associated with communities of practice. The second part of the study addresses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in this context. The contribution of one key individual in each group is analysed in order to provide a narrative about how that person communicates with the others, shares values and repertoires with them and gradually becomes a central member of the community. The data supports the notion that these forms of interaction and approaches to learning can favour the construction of knowledge and help to develop reflective skills and a sense of ‘togetherness’ in the group through sharing stories with one another, developing identity through the discussions and through this enabling the development of community. The findings indicate that the learners are provided with opportunities to consider the strengths and weaknesses of ideas from multiple perspectives and that key students play a role in enabling other students to move from a position of legitimate peripheral participation to becoming full members of the community.     

Learners’ engagement online in peer help

ABSTRACT

Much is known about help seeking in face-to-face classrooms, but there is a limited understanding about how learners seek and provide help online. This study implemented a peer-help forum in an online technology course, and investigated students’ engagement in the forum, their perceptions, and the relationship between peer help and course performance. The findings suggested that students actively engaged in the peer help beyond the course requirements. Emerging themes are presented regarding the students’ online help-seeking and help-giving behaviors and their perceptions. In addition, help seeking was not significantly related to performance, but a significant interaction effect suggested that help seeking benefited the performance of a subgroup of the students – those who provided less help.     

Our deepest appreciation of international peer reviewers

(From 2 0 0 2tonow)Everylittleimprovementofthejournaldependsonthestrongsupportfromthereviewers.WetakethisopportunitytogiveourheartfeltthankstoreviewersinChinaandabroadfortheirhelpsincetheestablishmentofthejournal.Dr.NaonCarlos　　Inst.deFisicaLaPlataArgen…     

Subtypes, severity, and structural stability of peer victimization: what does latent class analysis say?

This study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically identify victimization groups during middle school. Approximately 2,000 urban, public middle school students (mean age in sixth grade = 11.57) reported on their peer victimization during the Fall and Spring semesters of their sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Independent LCA analyses at each semester yielded 3 victim classes based on victimization degree rather than type (e.g., physical vs. relational). The most victimized class always represented the smallest proportion of the sample, decreasing from 20% in sixth grade to 6% by the end of eighth grade. This victimized class also always reported feeling less safe at school concurrently and more depressed than others 1 semester later, illustrating the validity of the LCA approach.     

Reliance to Independence: Approaches to learning in peer‐led undergraduate science,technology, engineering,and mathematics workshops

The phenomenographic ‘approach to learning’ literature holds that students’ approaches to learning can change depending on the learning context. This implies that, by modifying the learning context, teachers can change the way students approach learning, and this can ultimately lead to a change in learning outcomes. The study presented here examines one effort to modify a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning context and the approaches to learning taken by students experiencing this environment. Using a qualitative, phenomenographic approach, we interviewed 45 students in a STEM peer‐led workshop programme at a large US research university. Similar to previous approach‐to‐learning research, the study identified three approaches students took to learning in the peer‐led programme, in which they focused on simply making it through the course, engaging more meaningfully with the material, and gaining better control over their own learning.     

Relationships between student characteristics and self‐, peer and tutor evaluations of oral presentations

There are many influences on how assessors grade themselves and others. Oral presentations are useful for exploring such factors in peer, self‐ and tutor marked assessments, being rapidly completed and assessed, commonly used in HE and very difficult to anonymize. This opportunistic study examined the effects of gender and level of attainment on the triangulation of marks awarded to student presenters. Grades generated by peer assessment were associated more strongly with tutor‐awarded marks than those from self‐assessment. For self‐assessment there was a strong effect of gender (female students undervalued their performance compared with tutor grades). Peer assessment produced higher marks than from tutors, perhaps because of the close‐knit community developed during residential courses. For tutor marks, the greatest variability was at the lower end of the scale, whereas peer assessors were most variable when marking students who self‐evaluated or peer assessed highly. Students awarded a narrower range of marks to peers compared with tutors, but when self‐assessing used a larger range. Presentations by students who admitted to little sleep the night before received lower grades from both peers and tutors, but this was not reflected by self‐assessments, suggesting they were unaware of their poorer performances. Sessions with fewer talks (four rather than seven) reduced the ‘dip’ in marks previously observed in the middle of sessions. Findings are discussed in the context of bias in this mode of assessment.     

‘Some kind of weird,evil experiment’: student perceptions of peer assessment

This paper explores the attitudes and perceptions of three cohorts of Australian humanities and social science undergraduate students towards peer assessment. It seeks to gain a deeper understanding of local dissatisfaction with peer assessment through an in‐depth analysis of students’ contributions to focus group discussions. Responding to education theorists’ claims that peer and other forms of innovative assessment empower students, the paper concentrates on themes of power evident within students’ narratives. The interpretive framework coheres around four interrelated conceptions of power: sovereign, epistemological, disciplinary and structural. Students were found to support the notion of peer assessment as a formative exercise, yet were highly critical of it as a summative practice. Significantly, some of the students’ dissatisfaction stemmed from broader changes across the higher education sector more generally. The paper draws attention to the need for this to be taken into account when considering assessment as a technology of power and empowerment.     

Endogenous peer effects: Fact or fiction?

The authors examine endogenous peer effects, which occur when a student's behavior or outcome is a function of the behavior or outcome of his or her peer group. Endogenous peer effects have important implications for educational policies such as busing, school choice and tracking. In this study, the authors quantitatively review the literature on endogenous peer effects through the use of meta-analytic methods. They find a significant and positive endogenous peer effect. It appears to be a genuine empirical effect but is dependent on the measure of educational outcomes, the peer group, publication status, and publication year.     

The effects of peer competition-based science learning game on secondary students’ performance,achievement goals,and perceived ability

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of different modes of competition on science learning in a game-based learning (GBL) environment. Some key motivational constructs such as learning goals, performance goals, and perceived ability were also investigated. One hundred ninety-five students from a secondary school in Taiwan were randomly assigned to three conditions (anonymous competition, non-anonymous competition, and a control group) in a GBL environment to learn the concepts of force and balance. The results suggested that students in both the anonymous competition and non-anonymous competition groups outperformed students in the control groups. Additionally, we found that the students in the anonymous competition group reported higher learning goals and higher perceived ability than the control group did, whereas students in the non-anonymous competition group reported higher performance goals than the control group did. This study extends findings from previous research on the influences of GBL on learning and motivation.     

How does student peer review influence perceptions,engagement and academic outcomes? A case study

Involving students in peer review has many pedagogical benefits, but few studies have explicitly investigated relationships between the content of peer reviews, student perceptions and assessment outcomes. We conducted a case study of peer review within a third-year undergraduate subject at a research-intensive Australian university, in which we examined: (1) students’ perceptions of the peer review process before and after peer review, (2) content of the peer reviews and what kinds of feedback were adopted and (3) the effect of participation in peer review on performance (grades) in the assessment task. Students overwhelmingly perceived peer review to be beneficial, and the opportunity to participate in peer review resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of work submitted for assessment. Students who benefited most from peer review were those of below-median performance, and the magnitude of benefit was related to the degree to which students engaged with the peer review process. Our study confirms that participation in peer review can lead to important improvements in performance and learning outcomes.     

Improving pre‐service teacher learning through peer teaching: process,people and product1

This research investigates the perceptions of first‐year Bachelor of Teaching students (primary and secondary) and Diploma of Education students (secondary) about their peer teaching experience in a postgraduate subject called Curriculum and Assessment. Peer teaching is a learner‐centred approach to teaching and learning that is intended to provide significant benefits for learners' knowledge, skills and metacognition. However, concerns have been raised over the quality of the learning and teaching and the risks associated with such a pedagogy. In the present study, student responses to questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews were analysed, using a mixed methods approach, with respect to three broad and somewhat interconnected categories: process, people and product. These responses suggested a wide range of reactions to peer teaching, but overall students feel they benefited from the experience. The findings of this study should be of interest to lecturers and students in pre‐service teacher education courses, especially. Knowledge about peer teaching, learning and assessment would be especially valuable for both education lecturers and beginning teachers seeking to design and manage learner‐centred pedagogy in their own primary, secondary and tertiary classrooms. However, the results of this research would have far‐reaching appeal for all teaching and learning contexts.