María Soledad Ibarra Saiz

La evaluación entre iguales: beneficios y estrategias para su práctica en la universidad

Peer assessment is one of the assessment strategies that can be used to enhance lifelong learning. A conceptual framework (learning-oriented assessment) is roughly described, in which student participation through strategies such as self-assessment, peer assessment and cooperative assessment are essential. Peer assessment at university is analysed, focusing on the characteristics of this assessment strategy and the difficulties of its implementation. The characteristics of peer assessment are specified and a typology is presented (individual, intragroup and inter-group). The main difficulties evinced by research studies when implementing peer assessment are described. The conceptual, institutional, and relational difficulties and aspects related to the reliability and validity of peer assessment are highlighted. Nevertheless, university students and teachers can reap benefits from peer assessment, like improvement of learning processes and products, development of interpersonal strategies, improved judgement and development of certain academic and vocational competences. A collection of strategies is presented that allow university teachers to implement peer assessment in their academic activity. Examples and research are cited, revolving around three basic dimensions: planning, feed-forward and the systematisation of peer assessment.

e-Autoevaluación en la universidad: un reto para profesores y estudiantes

Through different research projects and other endeavours, many authors have been emphasizing in recent years the importance of the student�s role in the assessment process, for example, by means of self-assessment or peer assessment. Here the use of self-assessment is analyzed and described, but within a context of blended learning utilizing information and communications technologies (ICTS), with the aim of expanding the usefulness and feasibility of self-assessment at the university level. Firstly, the conceptual framework on which this research is based is introduced. The focus is on two fundamental topics: student participation in the assessment process and the use of technologies in the assessment process. As a relevant contribution, the authors present the facilitating role that can be played by assessment units designed with the LAMS platform (the Learning Activity Management System, part of the Virtual Campus) in order to incorporate students� e-self assessments into the university teaching/learning process. Secondly, the research results are presented. They take the form of case studies structured around the different issues raised in the questionnaires used to implement e-assessment: knowledge and previous resources, contributions to assessment tasks, interesting topics raised, challenges for expanding and learning, and workload. Conclusions about the use of e-self-assessment in higher education are presented. Stress is laid on the fact that e-self-assessment promotes active participation by students and also implies an exercise in self-regulation and critical reflection about one�s degree of knowledge and development of skills. Lastly, some limitations detected in the process of this research are considered, and outlooks are presented that enable research in this context to be continued.

ActEval: un instrumento para el análisis y reflexión sobre la actividad evaluadora del profesorado universitario

This paper presents the design and validation process of ActEval, a questionnaire designed as an instrument to gather information about the assessment activity of university teachers. The objectives of the study presented here are: 1) to identify the main assessment tasks university teachers should perform in higher education; and 2) to design and validate an instrument to evaluate the opinion of university teachers with regards to their assessment activity. The method used for this study has been a survey, performed in three stages. A first stage (first pilot study) included a literature review regarding the main tasks to be considered in the assessment process in higher education. Once these tasks were identified, a first version of the ActEval questionnaire was designed and, subsequently, completed by a reduced sample of university teachers. The second stage was the validation of ActEval by a panel of judges, after which the questionnaire was redesigned accordingly. Finally, in the third stage a second pilot study was carried out concluding with the final design of the ActEval questionnaire. The study presented here uses three different sample groups as informants; all have in common being university teachers. The ActEval questionnaire can be of great use for university teachers to analyze and reflect upon their own assessment activity, but it can also be used by university representatives as an instrument to evaluate their teachers’ needs in order to plan and design effective training activities that aim to improve the student assessment processes performed by teachers in higher education.

E-assessment: Perspectives and experiences from the students of the pedagogy degree

The influence of technologies in the context of higher Education is affecting all the elements of the teaching-learning process, including assessment. This entails a growing interest on the part of teachers and researchers to include eassessment as a priority research line. Our study aims to test the level of expectations and experiences of the students from the 3rd year of de Pedagogy degree in the academic year 2014/205 before implementing a blearning training process to improve their assessment skills. Through a survey technique, we analyze the information collected from 60 students in the form of self-perceived answers. The results show medium-high levels of learning-oriented eassessment use, as well as medium-low levels of previous experience. On the other hand, the analysis shows a favorable disposition to participate in training processes focused on eassessment.