In Thinking Writing we are interested in ways of involving students in the assessment of their own and others’ writing. Our view is that:

• Getting students to make assessment judgments helps them to develop their own sense of what makes a good piece of writing and to understand how judgments are made
• Composing feedback for others can help students to develop interpersonal skills as they learn how to communicate their judgments to others
• The approach opens up possibilities for students to co-construct assignments and assessment criteria - with each other and with the lecturer - giving them a more active role in the learning process.
• Self and peer assessment can often be a productive way to manage the marking load, and works for large classes.

Link to our list of further reading on peer assessment and assessment issues.

Read a short account of a course in Geography which incorporates self- and peer-feedback alongside staff feedback to help students improve their group writing.

Or stay with this section of the site and read an account of implementing peer-feedback in a medical engineering module.