How critical thinking relate to peer assessment

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze ideas and concepts objectively and rationally while
considering different perspectives to reach a logical conclusion. It is a process of questioning
information or data and it may encompass cognitive functions such as the ability to synthesize
process and analyze information, evaluate tasks and recommend solutions or modifications.
Peer assessment refers to the process whereby students takes the responsibility of assessing or
grading the work of their peers based on the criteria set by their lecturer. It is a critical
component of the modern teaching and learning strategy.
Peer assessment can help improve students’ logical reasoning skills, which is a key component
of critical thinking (Kuhn, 1991), thereby helping inculcate critical thinking skills as they read,
assess, compare, contrast and contextualize their peers’ work with the arguments they had
before.
In addition, assessing other students work gives students build skills related to diagnosis,
evaluation, synthesis and reasoning from the context of another student, thereby improving their
critical thinking skills.
Last, when we evaluate the other peers work, we apply critically thinking to relate what their
answers are in relation to the questions, therefore allowing us to give better and effective
feedback that can allow them to improve on their work.
Strategies that I can apply when I assess Written Assignments
i. I will allocate time to review the rubrics questions and criteria to conceptualize the
content and the evaluation process.
ii. I will also go through the peers’ work a couple of times so that I synthesize their points,
catch on the mistakes such as misspelling, and their general point of reasoning.
iii. I will also check their work word to ensure that each point they make relates to the
question and is not out of context.
iv. I will also research on the reference provided and ensure it is free from plagiarism
v. I will rate the peers after evaluating everything
vi. I will highlight both the satisfactory and unsatisfactory areas of the assignment
If any process surprised me
Not really, everything I suspected
Any concerns about assessment
I particularly have no major concern about the assessment since the criteria is set forth in the
rubrics, and our work is to evaluate the assignments based on those benchmarks. A little concern
is why the peer-graded assignments tend to give lower grades than the instructors do, even
though the feedback will be excellent, are students too strict or is it a matter of competition?!
Reference

Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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APA Exercise
Every week in your learning journal for Online Education Strategies, you will practice APA
format. This week, you are going to learn how to cite an online video file like a TED talk or
Youtube video. Use the internet to find a video about critical thinking, such as a TED talk or a
Youtube video. Then, complete the following exercise:

What is the title of the video? Student Life- Critical thinking

Who is the speaker (or who uploaded the video)? BBC Learning English

What year was the video published? 2017

What URL is the video available at? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPtBxZwxR9w

Using the information from #1-4, write the APA reference for the video file you found. The
reference goes at the end of your work, after all of your writing is finished.

BBC Learning. (2017, November 20). Student Life- Critical thinking [Video]. Student Life-
Critical thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPtBxZwxR9w

Now, let’s write the in-text citation, to use at the end of a sentence you are writing. In-text
citations are always (Author, Year). Using the information from #5, write the APA in-text
citation for the video you found.

"Students become better at citing" (BBC Learning English, 2017, 03:15-05:21)