Peer Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education
Summary
Peer assessment involves learners evaluating peers’ work according to explicit criteria, offering structured feedback that supports reflection for both giver and receiver. In higher education, this practice has expanded as a scalable approach to formative assessment, fostering student engagement, critical thinking and self‐regulated learning. When embedded within curricula, peer feedback promotes collaborative learning, deepens disciplinary understanding and enhances academic self‐concept. Key benefits include timely responses, diverse perspectives and preparation for professional review processes. Persistent challenges centre on variability in feedback quality, social bias and disparities in student confidence. The proliferation of digital platforms—from massive open online courses to bespoke peer‐review systems—has extended accessibility while introducing new design, moderation and analytics considerations. Contemporary research emphasises the cultivation of feedback literacy, ensuring students possess the skills to give, interpret and act upon feedback, and the provision of robust scaffolding in computer‐supported environments. Globally, peer assessment informs pedagogical policy and supports institutions facing resource constraints by distributing assessment workload. When aligned with clear rubrics and instructor guidance, peer assessment and feedback offer a potent mechanism for continuous improvement and transformative learning in higher education.
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Peer Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in peer assessment and feedback in higher education across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Peer assessment: The process by which students evaluate and comment on each other’s work against predefined criteria, contributing to formative learning and assessment.
Feedback literacy: The capability to critically interpret feedback, generate constructive comments and use feedback to guide one’s own learning.
Formative assessment: Assessment activities designed to provide ongoing information on student learning to inform instruction and promote improvement rather than to assign final grades.
Scaffolding: Instructional supports—such as guidelines, exemplars or dialogue—provided to help learners perform tasks beyond their current abilities, gradually removed as competence develops.
Computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning (CSCiL): An educational approach combining digital tools and collaborative inquiry processes to engage students in structured scientific investigation.
References
- What does it mean to be good at peer reviewing? A multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis study of behavioral indicators of peer feedback literacy. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (2024).
- Online peer editing: the influence of comments, tracked changes and perception of participation on students’ writing performance. Smart Learning Environments (2024).
- The implementation of peer assessment as a scaffold during computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning in secondary STEM education. International Journal of STEM Education (2024).
- Peer Feedback Improves Students’ Academic Self-Concept in Higher Education. Research in Higher Education (2020).
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