Targeted at students entering an HBO education from MBO*, this Professional Communication course helps to develop skills and understanding in the practice of nursing. An assignment is given each week for six weeks, whereby students work together to produce a video in which they role play a clinincal scenario demonstrating professional skills. After uploading this video, they give feedback to other groups, read the feedback they received, and write a short reflection about the process. At the end of the six weeks, students hand in their revised and finalised videos.
The intention behind using Peer Review was to promote a collaborative and open learning environment while discouraging procrastination and a “last-minute hand-in” attitude. Using this tool aimed to facilitate students’ improvement of their professional skills by providing more, and more streamlined, feedback opportunities.
*In the Netherlands, students who completed a vocational training program (MBO) can continue their education at a university of applied sciences (HBO)
Students work in groups to record, produce, and upload a video demonstrating nursing practices through role play. Over six weeks and the same number of iterations, students assess each other’s professional and communicative skills according to a detailed 7-point scale rating criteria. As well as scoring different aspects of their peers' skills as demonstrated in the video, students leave comments to elaborate on their feedback. This iterative approach gives students the opportunity to imitate, practice, and fine-tune their performances, according to the first three levels of Dave’s psychomotor taxonomy (1), which are imitation, manipulation, and perfection.
Watching and commenting on each other’s videos through the platform helped turn students’ learning into a joint activity. - Instructor
During the course students also had to assess themselves, but this was not done within Peer Review. For classes in the future, it could be valuable to enable self-assessment within Peer Review. With this, students can more easily compare their own comments to those of peers, giving space for deeper metacognitive reflection.
(1) - http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/Bloom/psychomotor_domain.html
Improve student autonomy and feedback skills by asking them to evaluate their best contributions
Using technology-enhanced peer review to improve student final work and save instructors time
Learn how instructor at the Hague University of Applied Sciences enhanced student engagement with study materials