Managing group work: impact of peer assessment on students' engagement

The paper investigates how students manage the dynamics of group work and whether or not their assessment of their peers’ work improve their engagement. The study uses a sample of 165 level 4 non-accounting students enrolled on an accounting for business module to explain empirically the impact of peer assessment on students’ engagement when they are given a group task. Our study shows that student peer assessment encourages participation and engagement with the group work. It also shows positive formative effects on student achievement and attitudes. This study can open up avenues for further investigation of peer assessments especially in group works and where there is limited resources to effectively manage the groups to engage in the set task. In particular, this study will increase the awareness of the significant contributions of peer assessment in managing student engagement in modules and/or assessments for large cohorts. Compared with previous literature on peer assessment, this study focuses on the assessment of the entire learning journey within a group rather than the final output. The emphasis is on students’ responsibility for becoming and remaining engaged in the learning process, which makes group work more manageable for both students and academic staff.