Student Perspectives on the Purpose of Peer Evaluation During Group Game Development Projects

Mitchell, Alexander ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-2620, Greer, Terry ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-1577, New, Warwick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0790-266X, Walton-Rivers, Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3406-0584, Watkins, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4196-2276, Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 and Scott, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6803-1490 (2021) Student Perspectives on the Purpose of Peer Evaluation During Group Game Development Projects. In: United Kingdom and Ireland Computing Education Research Conference, September 2 - 3, 2021, Glasgow, United Kingdom. (In Press)

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Abstract / Summary

Being able to work well in a team is valued in industry and beyond. As such, many university educators strive to help their students to collaborate effectively. However, it is typically the case that more than ad-hoc experience is needed to master teamwork. Often, students need to become reflective practitioners who learn from their experiences and enact change. Self and peer evaluation can help evoke such reflection. However, the facilitating conditions for effective learning from peer evaluation during group projects in computing are not yet well-defined. This research is an initial step in identifying these conditions. In this study, students engaged in a long-term multidisciplinary software engineering project in which they produced a digital game. They completed regular exercises in which they reflected upon and wrote about their contributions to the project as well as those of their peers. Thematic analysis of 200 responses to an open-ended question about the purpose of these exercises illustrated the student perspective: giving and receiving feedback; prompting personal reflection and improvement; supporting supervision; aiding marking; informing project planning and management; coming to a shared understanding of the status and progress of the project; exploring and reshaping group dynamics; improving project outputs; providing a system to hold group members accountable; and giving a sense of safety to raise issues without repercussion. Giving consideration to these differing perceptions will help educators to address concerns about group projects and lay the foundations for a model of effective learning from peer evaluation during student collaborations.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	Computing & Data Science Education Computing & Data Science > Game Design
Courses by Department:	The Games Academy
Depositing User:	Alexander Mitchell
Date Deposited:	14 Sep 2021 07:19
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 14:24
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/4346

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