Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of and Attitudes Towards Peer Assessment in Multicultural Classrooms

Abstract

Due to the scant work done thus far, the present mixed-methods study assessed Education students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards peer assessment (PA) and their effect on the perceived Transfer of PA practices to their future classes. 120 undergraduate multicultural students have participated in the study. The students were given two group assignments in line with the project-based learning approach. During each project presentation to the class, the students were required to individually assess their peers’ group work based on an indicator that was previously designed in collaboration with the teacher. After each assessment, the students filled out the Students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards PA questionnaire. The analysis implied that students’ positive perception of their ability to assess their peers and their trust in their peers’ ability to accurately assess their work are effective factors that might enhance PA skills transfer to their future classes. However, based on the results, a key challenge in PA implementation appeared to be culture-related. The study highlights the need to focus on consolidating trust among students within a heterogeneous classroom during PA processes.