The Effect of Online Peer Assessment in Engineering Education: A Quasi-experimental Study

This study evaluates whether online peer assessment increases student participation and thus improves their learning achievement in a database system design and analysis course. To understand the effectiveness of online peer assessment within a Web 2.0 environment, we implemented an e-learning 2.0 platform to achieve the research purpose. Data were collected from student participants in a database system design and analysis course, including Really Simple Syndication (RSS), blogs, Wiki, and other online forums. We used a quasi-experimental design method to divide participants into an experimental group (N = 52) and a control group (N = 60). The control group was taught using a traditional face-to-face teaching method, while the experimental group followed the same course outline but was additionally assisted by the e-learning 2.0 platform, which incorporated peer assessment mechanism. The results indicated that students in the experimental group had significantly better academic results than those in the control group.