Best Contribution Grading in peer review assignments

Project introduction and background information

In this project we developed an innovative approach to increase both the participation and quality of peer review and online discussions. In short, this approach involves grading only the ‘best contribution’ students’ provide to the peer review. These ‘best contributions’ are self-selected by the student from his/her peer review(s).

Objective and expected outcomes

‘Best Contribution Grading’ (BCG) aims to:

• Increase the quality of peer review
• Increase participation
• Offer a safe learning environment
• Deliver a scalable teaching method.

Results and learnings

The principle of BCG is evaluated in three academic courses at Wageningen University using a cross-over design. The report describes the principle of best contribution grading, including experiences with BCG in four academic courses at Wageningen University.

Recommendations

Based on the first promising evaluation results do's and don'ts for teachers who are planning to implement BCG are formulated. BCG can be implemented by using a tool developed by feedbackfruits.

Practical outcomes

A guide for teachers on ‘Best Contribution Grading’ (BCG) is available at the downloads on your right.