This paper was presented at the 2008 Engineering Conference - Innovation Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education.
WebPA is an online tool for the self and peer assessment of students contributions to group work. The online tool has been developed over a period of years and is currently at the heart of the JISC funded WebPA project being led by the Engineering Faculty at Loughborough University. WebPA is centred around the peer moderation of a tutors group project work to allow individual student grades to be determined for a group activity. This paper will examine the use of WebPA for gathering and marking the groups in two departments from the faculty of engineering expanding into the attitudes towards its use.
The paper will examine two case studies of use. Taking into account the varying group work activities that take place in the two departments paying particular attention to the group working that is marked using WebPA. The attitudes of the academic staff using WebPA will be examined taking into account; the reasons for use barriers and drivers for adopting peer moderated marking as well as the affect on teaching and any gains that are felt have been or not been made. Qualitative evidence will be presented. This paper will also present feedback from students on their experiences of using the WebPA tool.
