The Impact of a Scaffolded Assessment Intervention on Students' Academic Achievement in Web-based Peer Assessment Activities

Abstract

Web-based peer assessment has been considered an important process for learning. However, students may not offer constructive feedback due to lack of expertise knowledge. Therefore, this study proposed a scaffolded assessment approach accordingly. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the quasi-experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of scaffolded assessment for self-critiques and peer assessment on students' learning effectiveness in the web-based assessment activities. A total of ninety 7th graders participated in the experiment, and divided into three groups with or without the scaffolding critique. The results show the use of the scaffolded assessment in the web-based peer assessment activities did not show a significant difference in the students' learning effectiveness. Even though the results show that learning effectiveness of the participants in the two experimental groups is significantly enhanced, there is no significant effect of providing the scaffolded assessment on the participants' learning effectiveness in the three groups. In addition, the participants showed a positive learning attitude toward the web-based assessment activities and agreed that the activities could enhance the participants' interactions between the peers and instructor.