Self Evaluation
I think the idea of students evaluating themselves is brilliant. Of course, this will only be a factor in my final grading of the group projects but I think it's a great way to ensure that students are participating and contributing to the group.
I think self evaluation is really good. Its also good to use some form of rubric so students can honestly evaluate themselves and see what they need to work on especially when applying what they have learned.
Rosemary ,
yes, these type of situations definitely provide a great avenue for us to have more effective feedback conversations.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Self evaluation is frequently used in the work place to give the supervisor an opportunity to see how the employee views themselves. I have often been surprised at the fact that they (employees or students) are harder on themselves than I would be. This affords an opportunity to point out their strengths and provide positive reinforcement.
Conversely it can alert the supervisor or teacher to a lack of self awareness and be prepared for a more difficult evaluation.
It is helpful to have students use self evaluation as a means of reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses. As a teacher, this gives you an opportunity to coach them to better performance.
Self-evaluation is crucial in developing critical thinking abilities among students. Having a sense of self in terms of effort, working ability, and accomplishment is beneficial in all walks of life. While self-evaluation may be only one component of the final evaluation, I find that students are almost always on target with their evaluations of their groups. Furthermore, having students evaluate themselves and even other group members provides insight for me as I consider how the group worked together to accomplish a task.
Leslie,
unfortunately there is no ultimate answer to this challenge, hopefully some of these suggestions will help.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Sadly, I've experienced students who lie and try to say how great their work is even when they know deep down it is poor. Some students want to take me to the side and tattle tale on other team mates to make me think they have done all the work, when I know these particular students really have confidence issues and don't get along well with others or they lack the talent to contribute much.
However, I'll give it a try.
Brian,
yes, I would not recommend that the self-eval or peer eval be the only grading, but just other pieces of the whole.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I believe that students evaluating themselves is a very good idea but we have to remember that sometimes their evaluation of how much work they did may not be what other group members may think so the best practice here is that everyone evaluates all members of the group and yes each person should evaluate themselves then the instructor can determine if the evaluations are correct or if adjustments need to be made. In any project or group I had my students participate in I was very clear as to the evaluations and I have found that when students know they will be evaluated by their peers they usually will put forth more effort because they do not want to get a bad grade. There are those students who fall out of that group but mostly they participate and all goes really well.
