Peer review for Building project
Peer reviews are used in a formative manner before the first assignment in the module Management Theory & Human Behaviour. The process is facilitated through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in order to bring together distance-learning students and full-time students on campus. All students are asked to produce a behavioural analysis of one of the main stakeholders of a building project (currently one of the more recent tourist attractions in Bath: Thermae Bath Spa). They are then allocated to peer review groups of three which include full-time and distance-learning students. This is done in order to model the 'real-life'. One would rarely work on a project where all members of that team were working full-time on that particular project from the same location. Also, one needs to rely on working at a distance in delivering projects. Students are allocated to groups in a way that reflect such realities of working-life.
The next step is for the students to share their analyses with other members of their group using the Discussion Forum on the VLE and to comment on each other's work. These comments are shared via the Discussion Forum.
This process is scheduled to finish just before all students meet on campus during an intensive study period. It paves the way to a role-play exercise where students are asked to negotiate with each other to overcome some of the project challenges that may have emanated from behavioural differences. Students also get a chance to discuss the feedback that they exchanged and to reflect on the difference between doing this on-line and face-to-face. These reflections feed into an individual report which is assessed.
This peer review exercise helps with breaking the ice between full-time and distance-learning students, introducing the students to key concepts of human behaviour and getting students appreciate the intricacies of on-line and face-to-face communication. Students appreciate the opportunity to reflect on their own work through reviewing another student's work.
Notes for new peer review users Criteria for assessment need to be distributed in advance. Students generally do not appreciate their work to be marked by other students. In our opinion, it is important to mark the students according to their ability to review other's work. Thus, the peer review exercise should be independently marked instead of being used as a means to offloading the marking burden to students.
Esra Kurul, Department of Real Estate and Construction
Franco Cheung, Department of Real Estate and Construction