Peer Evaluation in Blended Team Project-Based Learning: What Do Students Find Important?

Abstract

Team project-based learning is reputed to be an appropriate way to activate interactions among students and to encourage knowledge building through collaborative learning. Peer evaluation is an effective way for each student to participate actively in a team project. This article investigates the issues that are important to students when evaluating their peers in team project-based learning. A message analysis framework was inductively derived for the study, and data collected from the team-project learning process were categorized within this framework. Each message type was analyzed with respect to the students’ peer evaluation results. The results showed that managerial, procedural, and social messages, rather than academic messages, significantly predicted peer evaluation results. These results indicate that students find social contributions, such as organizing or coordinating managerial abilities, more important than cognitive contributions when they evaluate peers. Additional results and the significance of their implications are discussed.