PeerWise Nottingham seminar

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

1

Using PeerWise to support a community of learning

Ross Galloway, Simon Bates, Karon McBride

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

• Web-based MCQ repository built by students

• Students:– develop new questions with

associated explanations– answer existing questions and

rate them for quality and difficulty– take part in discussions

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

3

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

4

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

5

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

6

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

7

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

8

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

9

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

• To date– 77 institutions

– 557 courses

– 33757 students have contributed

– 94207 questions have been written

– 2308854 answers have been submitted

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

What we did in our course

11

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

PeerWise was introduced in workshop sessions in Week 5

Students worked throughstructured example task and devised own Qs in groups.

12

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

13

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

An assessment was set for the end of Week 6:

Minimum requirements:

• Write 1 question• Answer 5• Comment on & rate 3

Contributed ~3% to course assessment

14

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

We were deliberatelyhands off.

• No moderation• No corrections• No interventions at all

But we did observe…..

15

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Assessment mark based on performance as determined by PeerWise score.

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

What we foundengagement, examples, effects

17

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

18

It’s just a gimmick…..

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Uptake for in-course assessment

(class size of ~200)

350 questions in total

~3500 answers~2000 comments

19

Workshoptraining

Live Due

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

20

They’ll put in nonsense & irrelevant questions….

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

21

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Quality of submissions:

• Average quality was very good

• Few trivial questions / nonsense distracters

• Highest quality questions were EXCEPTIONALLY good

22

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

23

The questions will be poor quality… rote learning, factual recall blah blah blah…..

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

24

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

26

The science will be all wrong……

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

27

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Perceptions

We sought student feedback both in ‘wash-up’ sessions after the assessment and in the end of course questionnaire

28

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Positives

29

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Positives

30

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Negatives

31

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

32

… but they’ll lose interest after a while….

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Mid-semester deadline

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

End-of-semester deadline

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

35

… but you can’t prove that greater use correlates with performance….

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

CA1 CA3 CA5

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

38

ross.galloway@ed.ac.ukbit.ly/EdPER

Take-homes:• Provide orientation task• Set the quality bar very high• Force yourself to be hands-off• Set an assessment task• Leave the deadline as late as you can• Assessment is quality-based but light-load (no

direct marking required)• Unleash the creativity of your students!

Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh

Marking system:

PeerWise score

assignment mark

highest score

highest score

lowest score

minimum task requirement

40%

70%

100%