The use of peer group review in the assessment of project work in Higher Education

The work that this paper reports concerns a small scale investigation and evaluation of the technique of peer group review in the assessment of design and technology project work. A cohort of fifty first year undergraduate students of Industrial Design and Technology was involved in the assessment of four practical design coursework projects which they had submitted.

Two particular aspects of peer group review are considered: the validity of student assessment in relation to parallel judgements made by academic staff; the perceptions which undergraduate students hold regarding the benefits and difficulties of this system of assessment. The paper seeks to identify the potential contribution that the technique of peer group review could make towards more effective and efficient assessment of design and technology project work from student and staff perspectives.