I’m sure you’ll agree that 2021 is a year we are all intending to put behind us! Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present teachers with challenges to their practice. As teachers ourselves, we were especially challenged when deploying group assignments to students who were physically isolated and had restricted access to the full power of digital technologies.
Following a brief lull, many teachers are now returning to using group assignments in virtual teaching contexts. Critically, teachers find that mid-semester formative peer feedback and assessment is a crucial tool for measuring the ‘health’ of their students’ virtual teamwork, providing early warning of individuals and teams at-risk.
To support your requirement for effective virtual team assignments, Peer Assess Pro has continued to extend and streamline our platform and knowledge base. For instance, we have enhanced our infographic, How to Teach with Group Assignments: The 7 Step Formula for Fair and Effective Teammate Peer Assessment, so that each step links directly to the relevant chapters in the more extensive companion eBook.
We have created new video resources in our Peer Assess Pro Academy to clarify the purpose of peer feedback and assessment, and identify best practices for assuring validity in teammate peer assessment.
Finally, we have made several improvements to the Peer Assess Pro platform in recent months. These include new features, workflow streamlining, and other learning resource materials.
Interactive Infographic: How to Teach with Group Assignments
Our 7 Steps infographic summarizes best practices for teaching with group assignments. The updated … and now interactive … infographic includes our tips and checklists for using group assignments augmented with teammate peer feedback and assessment. Now, the infographic is a ‘portal’ linking each of the 7 Steps to our eBook and knowledge base, providing deeper insight and practical guidance for each Step and its supporting illustrations.
The infographic is the perfect roadmap to help you not only deliver consistent excellent team assignments but also improve your future practice.
Download the high-resolution, interactive poster How to Teach with Group Assignments: The 7 Step Formula for Fair and Effective Teammate Peer Assessment.
Peer Assess Pro Platform Demonstration Video
Some of you have experienced our 50-minute platform demonstration and training workshops or our video recordings. What a chore!
Now, our professional videography team has distilled the ‘best of’ these workshops and videos into a concise, but comprehensive 6-minute demonstration of the features and benefits of the Peer Assess Pro approach to teammate peer feedback and assessment. The demo is a great place to see the full capability of the Peer Assess Pro approach.
We know that your time spent viewing the demo video will highlight additional features that you can apply in your future peer assessment practice. In addition, we’d really appreciate your recommending the demo video to your colleagues for their consideration. (Thank you!)
“Contributions will always differ when students take part in group-based assignments. It’s difficult for instructors, like you, to judge who is meeting learning outcomes and those who risk failure. Peer Assess Pro drives performance and satisfaction with one integrated approach to team assessment. Here, better feedback leads to better teams!….”
Watch our 6-minute demo video to learn how Peer Assess Pro helps you improve your students’ group work today and their professional achievement tomorrow!
Streamlined Payment Capability
Our partners at Xorro have recently implemented payment mechanisms for Peer Assess Pro that extend on the current pre-paid account approach typically used by departments and institutions.
Now, an individual educator can launch and pay for just the specific peer assessment they need ‘just-in-time’. You arrange your teams and launch the peer assessment as usual. If necessary, you’ll be taken to the payment gateway and your launch will be temporarily suspended. Immediately your payment is cleared, your created peer assessment will continue to distribute the survey to your students. Payment methods include credit card, Paypal, or invoice.
Good things advancing in 2022
2022 is going to be a ‘good to great’ year for Peer Assess Pro.
We will continue to increase our knowledge base and Peer Assess Pro Academy by continuing to add articles, videos, and training modules to ensure that educators and students get the most from their group-based assignments.
We are developing additional, streamlined workflows for managing the arrangement and adjustment of teams when new teammates join your class late or need to be relocated to another team.
We are improving the user experience, augmented with advanced analytics, to focus your attention on the most at-risk teams and individuals through your group work teaching process.
We continue to develop the Peer Assess Pro platform with the features that you have been asking for. Stay tuned for a major feature release announcement in mid-2022.
Until then, we wish you all the very best for the holiday season. We look forward to working with you in 2022 to ensure that your students gain the most from their group-based assignments through developing key future-ready employability capabilities.
Better feedback. Better teams!
Patrick Dodd and Peter Mellalieu
Co-founders, Peer Assess Pro Ltd
