Hoi Suen
Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology
College of Education
2013 TLT Faculty Fellow
Focus area: Peer Assessment in Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Hoi is working with Teaching and Learning with Technology to examine peer assessment in MOOCs, specifically looking at Coursera’s Calibrated Peer Assessment tools. The pedagogy behind MOOCs is not fully understood, specifically aspects of student assessment and the ability to scale different types of assessment to thousands of students at a time. Peer assessment is one possible solution to this problem, although the notion of novice learners assessing other novice learners presents challenges.
In addition to providing expertise in research and assessment to help us analyze data from Penn State’s first MOOCs, Hoi is also pursuing the development of a new method of peer assessment that might be used in future MOOCs or future Penn State course offerings. Hoi states:
At the heart of the method is the development and validation of a ‘credibility index’ for each student based on several dimensions: accuracy, consistency, and transferability of judgment. Once validated, this index can be used to help provide accurate and informative feedback for assignments; and can help steer peer discussions toward the correct answer without instructor intervention.
The potential of the proposed credibility index is exciting, both in terms of enhancing peer assessments and also the ability to carry over into other areas of courses, such as discussion groups, team activities and peer mentoring. We look forward to working with Hoi and his colleagues throughout the summer!
The Team
Bart Pursel (lead)
Kate Miffit
Gary Chinn, Arts and Architecture
Outcomes
Publications
Li, H.L., Xiong, Y., Zang, X.J., Kornhaber, M., Lyu, Y.S., Chung, K.S., & Suen, H.K. (in press). Peer assessment in the digital age: A meta-analysis comparing peer and teacher ratings. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education.
Suen, H.K. (2014). Peer assessment for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15 (3), 312-327.
Suen, H.K. (2013). Peer Assessment in MOOC. Conference Proceedings of the 2013 EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Fall Focus Session. http://www.educause.edu/events/eli-online-fall-focus-session-2013-2/2013/peer-assessment-moocs.
Suen, H.K., Russell, A, & Schimpf, S. (2013) 7 things you should know about Calibrated Peer Review. ELI 7 Things You Should Know, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-calibrated-peer-review.
Presentations
Goins, D.D., Xiong, Y., & Suen, H.K. (2014, February). Credibility index for peer assessment. MOOC Research Summit, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Suen, H.K. & Pursel, B.K. (2014). Scalable Formative Assessment in Massive Open Online Courses. Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium. March 22, 2014, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Suen, H.K. (2013). Role and current methods of peer assessment in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Presentation at the First International Workshop on Learning Sciences, University Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Li, H.L., Xiong, Y., Zang, X.J., Kornhaber, M., Lyu, Y.S., Chung, K.S., & Suen, H.K. (2014). Peer assessment in a digital age: A meta-analysis comparing peer and teacher ratings. Presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Xiong, Y., Goins, D., Suen, H.K., Pun, W.H., & Zang, X. (2014). A proposed credibility index (CI) in peer assessment. Presentation at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Philadelphia, PA.