Dataset Information

Using peer review to distribute group work marks equitably between medical students.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although peer assessment has been used for evaluating performance of medical students and practicing doctors, it has not been studied as a method to distribute a common group work mark equitably to medical students working in large groups where tutors cannot observe all students constantly.

Methods

The authors developed and evaluated a mathematical formulation whereby a common group mark could be distributed among group members using peer assessment of individual contributions to group work, maintaining inter-group variation in group work scores. This was motivated by community health projects undertaken by large groups of year four medical students at the National University of Singapore, and the new and old formulations are presented via application to 263 students in seven groups of 36 to 40 during the academic year 2012/2013.

Results

This novel formulation produced a less clustered mark distribution that rewarded students who contributed more to their team. Although collusion among some members to form a voting alliance and 'personal vendettas' were potential problems, the former was not detected and the latter had little impact on the overall grade a student received when working in a large group. The majority of students thought the new formulation was fairer.

Conclusions

The new formulation is easy to implement and arguably awards grades more equitably in modules where group work is a major component.

SUBMITTER: Cook AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5607620 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Using peer review to distribute group work marks equitably between medical students.

Cook Alex R AR Hartman Mikael M Luo Nan N Sng Judy J Fong Ngan Phoon NP Lim Wei Yen WY Chen Mark I-Cheng MI Wong Mee Lian ML Rajaraman Natarajan N Lee Jeannette Jen-Mai JJ Koh Gerald Choon-Huat GC

BMC medical education 20170920 1

<h4>Background</h4>Although peer assessment has been used for evaluating performance of medical students and practicing doctors, it has not been studied as a method to distribute a common group work mark equitably to medical students working in large groups where tutors cannot observe all students constantly.<h4>Methods</h4>The authors developed and evaluated a mathematical formulation whereby a common group mark could be distributed among group members using peer assessment of individual contri ...[more]

PMID: 28931382

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Project description:BackgroundTo develop the skills needed in health care teams, training communication and teamwork skills are important in medical education. Small group collaborative learning is one of the methods utilized in such trainings, and peer evaluation is suggested to be useful in reinforcing the effectiveness of group learning activities. In Mie University Faculty of Medicine, group work consisting of book review sessions of liberal arts education in the first grade and problem-based learning (PBL) sessions in preclinical years were conducted using the same peer evaluation system that included three domains: degree of prior learning, contribution to group discussion, and cooperative attitude. This study was conducted to determine the relationships among behaviors during group work and the academic achievement of medical students.MethodsWith the data from a cohort of medical students in three consecutive academic years (n = 340), peer evaluation scores in groupworks of book review sessions, those in PBL sessions and paper test scores of preclinical years were analyzed. The correlations were analyzed with Spearman's correlation coefficient, and the respective scores were compared by using the Wilcoxon signed-ranked test.ResultsSignificant correlations were observed among the evaluation scores of respective domains in group work and paper test scores. The degree of prior learning had the strongest relationship among the three domains (rs = 0.355, p < 0.001 between book review sessions and PBL; rs = 0.338, p < 0.001 between book review sessions and paper test score; rs = 0.551, p < 0.001 between PBL and paper test score). Peer evaluation scores of respective domains were found to be significantly higher in PBL.ConclusionMedical students maintained their groupwork behaviors to some extent from early school to preclinical years. Those behaviors were positively related to their academic achievement in the later years of the medical education curriculum. Our study highlighted the importance of the early introduction of group work. The results will be useful to motivate medical students to put more effort into group work.

Dataset Information

Using peer review to distribute group work marks equitably between medical students.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Using peer review to distribute group work marks equitably between medical students.

Similar Datasets

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