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The Importance of Peer-to-Peer Feedback in
Pre-Service Education: Practicing what we t Joyce L.
Morris Deborah
Waggett The Project
The
Student-to-Student
project involved 28
pre-service
teachers, 14 from each program, in an asynchronous peer feedback
collaboration
between Castleton State College and the University of Vermont during
the fall
2003 semester. These two teacher
preparation programs are some 67 miles apart and connected only by
single lane
roads. Distance provides a degree insulation and lack of communication
between
faculty, students, and administrators. We
thought we could use the Standards into Action Tools to
increase communication,
build a learning community and provide an opportunity for students to
receive
and offer additional feedback on a required assignment. Both these
teacher
preparation programs offer a computer course that focus on learning and
integrating how to use information technology in K-12 classrooms, and
we
decided to use one class from each program. This would offer us a
chance to
teach some computer skills within the context of increased attention to
the
research findings about how we learn. Pre-service teachers both received and
offered
feedback as a peer group composed of seven randomly selected students
(three
and four) from each school. Each
groups " task was to help the other students in their group
reflect and improve
upon their project. An online threaded discussion board used Standards
into
Action (SIA) for the
communication
and exchange of documents. The students would each upload their
assignment
according to a schedule so they could receive help at least two times.
The
discussion area was customized so that only the instructors could read
and
write to all responses. Although all students could read all messages,
they
could only respond to those in their group. They could all look at each
others'
assignments. A second lesson was dedicated to students
working in
their face-to-face group to practice using the rubrics to grade two
previously
constructed autobiographies. Benchmarks were developed to demonstrate a
range
of D to A projects responding to the rubric criteria. All groups
developed a
consensus within (.5) of a grade. Correspondently, a reading, "The
Blind men
and the Elephant" as assigned to students and discussed in
relation to our
group work in developing consensus and providing feedback.
Students then received two lessons on
using Microsoft Word to develop a newspaper. Technology skills included
in
addition to basic word processing skills: inserting a digital graphic,
creating
a banner, using the drawing and column tools. The
content focused on revealing their previous experience
in using technology, their interests and experiences they wished to
share. They
were also taught how to use the tracking feature to
provide feedback and how
to upload their documents as attachments to the SIA Team Project area that housed their
discussion. Assessment
A Likert scale survey was
developed by the
instructors to examine how successful they were in meeting their goals
and to
reveal students' perceptions and document their learning.
Nineteen short and one open question
was provided for specific student comment: The questionnaire was
focused on
four areas: Assessment, Feedback, Use of SIA Tools, and Overall
Learning. Additional analysis is still
taking
place of student generated discussions, feedback offered and student
final products. The survey was given to
students the last
day of fall semester class and n=10 UVM students and n= 10 Castleton
Students
responded. The statements were rated by the students to reflect how
true each,
was for them. These ratings included: (1) not at all, (2) slightly, (3)
somewhat, (4) mostly, (5) very. The data
was averaged across each question and then
aggregated into
other statements from the same area. The chart below (Table 1) represents the mean of
responses from
students in both programs.
(Table I: Student-to-Student feedback) Questions were averaged
across
each
response (n=10 for UVM and n=10 for Castleton) to determine the mean
response
from each site. Questions where then aggregated by topic and their mean
was
determined for each site. Analysis of data from the
open-ended
question reflected that most students thought the project was a good
idea
because it provided that additional range of perceptions that add to
the
richness of ideas and reflective practice of thinking about what
feedback to
offer and which feedback to accept. The models and other student
products
helped students understand the assignment and get develop additional
ideas. "Student
(peer) feedback isn't used
enough in college. I think it's mutually very beneficial. Detailed
rubrics are
also really helpful with projects. (Castleton Student)
"This
project is a good idea but the timelines for projects between the
schools need
to match better... . Both schools
also need to make sure that feedback is given to ALL students work."
(Castleton
Student) "Feedback to both groups needs to
be a
little bit
better. (Neither of us was very
specific using feedback). " (Castleton Student) Discussion The assignment, to create an
autobiographical
newsletter, had many purposes. It helped the course instructor learn
about the
students' prior technology knowledge both in its content and
demonstration, and
also revealed a range of information about the interests and
accomplishments of
the students in the course. This information, in turn, provides a basis
for the
instructor's metaphors that will help students link their new
learning to
something they already know. It provided practice in using a rubric to
provide
feedback to a peer at another college. It provided a sense of how well
the
teacher candidate understands assessment in relation to a rubric and
models,
how well they can relate this to others as well as reflect upon it in
their own
product. Pre-service students practiced using a web-based listserv to
respond
to other students by uploading and downloading their newsletters and
depending
upon their feedback for guidance. They
learned how they might want to use a newsletter with
their own K-12
students and how to provide feedback in a critical yet positive way.
Beyond our
initial assignment, some students continued to provide feedback on
additional
assignments and include personal communications. They
also learned about and learned to work with students in
a similar course at a remote location. Coordinating time frames between
different
institutions presented a problem. The unexpected will often happen and
flexible
planning between instructors is critical. In retrospect, we have
changed the assignment
to fall later in the semester to build in more preparation and planning
time
and more time to adjust for unexpected viruses and server shutdowns.
Since the
students at UVM began their assignment before those at Castleton, they
in turn
received more feedback and seemed more satisfied with the project as a
whole.
Once the UVM students were working on another assignment, they lost
interest in
responding to Castleton students. The UVM course is required and usually
taken
during
the first or second year. The Castleton students were mostly second and
third
year students. During the first two years in UVM's teacher
preparation program
most students take their required academic courses and have had minimal
exposure to assessment and educational theory. This
may explain some of the disparity between the UVM and
Castleton survey data. UVM students n=10 (mean=4.5) vs. Castleton n=10
(mean
=3.5) regarding how much they learned about assessment. To most UVM
students
the concept of using rubrics (4.7) was new and important information,
to the
Castleton Students (2.7) this was perhaps something they were much more
familiar with and therefore it did not provide quite the same benefit. We also sensed some frustration amongst
the Castleton Students in receiving little feedback from the UVM
students.
There was a clear connection between the amount of feedback students
received
and their satisfaction with the project. This
is a study in progress and a pilot that will be further analyzed and
refined
next semester, Spring 2004. We are
excited to see how better timing and additional feedback will increase
the
educational value and further develop communication between instructors
in
different teacher preparation programs and between students in
different
teacher preparation programs. We believe there is significant value in
connecting and involving students in a web-based assessment project
that is not
subject dependent but transferable to any discipline. Students liked
feedback
on their project and benefited in using rubrics to help provide that
feedback.
Timeliness and frequency of feedback are valued by students and using
the
rubrics that will guide the assessment of their own project helpful.
SIA
provided an easy vehicle in which to begin to build the kind of
community where
students from different preparation programs can engage in practicing
assessment by providing feedback in a supportive environment. This is
especially important if we want our practicing teachers to mentor newer
teachers
and provide a sustainable effective model of professional development.
If we
wish our future teachers to practice what we teach, then we should be
looking
for ways to integrate it into our teacher preparation programs and
practices. Relevant URL's and References Anderson, C. Proceedings
of
the
2000
Annual International Conference of the Association for the Education of
Teachers in Science, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED (ED 438
191)
Ohio State University Morris, J.L. (2003).
Digital
Portfolios
Reflect How We Learn: Society for Information Technology and Teacher
Education,
2003, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education,
Alburquerque,
NM. 122-127.
Acknowledgements This project was supported by funds
from
Reinventing
Education 3(RE3), a collaborative project between IBM and nine national
educational sites to help co-design a new portfolio tool called
Teacher's
Workplace to interact and enhance the features of Standards into
Action. UVM
has
received a
2003 PT3 grant to study the
impact of using this portfolio system with pre-service teachers in
their
classroom practice. |
