"New Media in Education" MOOC: Improving Peer Assessments of Students’ Plans and their Innovativeness

Abstract

MOOC courses in the fields of new media, entrepreneurship and innovation require pedagogical developers to create a clear and measureable peer assessment process of the innovative plans and projects developed by students. The objectives of our action research are to improve evaluations of students’ plans and their innovativeness in a MOOC based on project-based learning (PBL). We analyzed 789 written peer assessments and grades of 89 PBL plans, which were submitted as part of the requirements in a new MOOC course 'New Media in Education' targeting student teachers. Correlations between final peer project grades and other assessment categories were calculated. A regression analysis model indicates that innovativeness and compatibility of student plans to educational needs are the strongest predictors final peer grades. Based on the research findings, we propose potential improvements in the peer assessment process, including additional guidelines for the assessment of innovativeness and other categories of PBL plans based on new media and digital pedagogy.