This study focuses on the student evaluation of peer feedback that was implemented in an interdisciplinary research course for second year bachelor students at Liberal Arts and Sciences, Utrecht University. The study investigates interdisciplinary learning from both online and face-to-face peer feedback.

Introduction

During this course, students collaborate in multi-disciplinary teams to answer an interdisciplinary research question, for which they go through the interdisciplinary research process adapted from Repko and Szostak (2020). One of the steps is to write a disciplinary perspective on the interdisciplinary research question and currently peer feedback is implemented to allow students to learn from each other on their disciplinary writing. Previously, it has been found that peer feedback is effective in student’s academic writing (Huisman et.al., 2019). However, it is unknown whether students’ interdisciplinary learning is also improved by providing peer feedback. Online peer feedback has been found to have positive effects on learning, but also provides logistical benefits regarding organisation of peer feedback (van der Pol et.al., 2008).

Aim and research question

The goal of this research is to investigate how students perceive peer feedback regarding their disciplinary academic writing and the effect of the feedback on their interdisciplinary learning. In addition, it compares online peer feedback with face-to-face feedback, looking into how peer feedback can best be implemented for interdisciplinary learning in the future.

Set-up and method

During the course ‘Interdisciplinary research I’, peer feedback was arranged such that students from a similar disciplinary specialisation provided feedback to each other’s disciplinary contribution. In two of the three seminar groups (40 students), students were asked to provide online peer feedback through the tool FeedbackFruits 2.0. In the third seminar group (19 students), the students provided face-to-face feedback during the seminar. All students were asked to fill in a survey, which included (Likert scale) questions regarding their interdisciplinary learning and their perception of the feedback itself. In addition, it contained open questions on advantages and disadvantages of online/face-to-face peer feedback.

Results

Results show that students do not give high ratings to their disciplinary learning, both the content and the epistemology of their discipline. In addition, results indicate that students who provided online peer feedback were less positive on what they had learned about their own discipline. Qualitative results show that students mainly value the opportunity to discuss the feedback with their peers.

Conclusion

While online peer feedback has benefits considering logistics and organization of teaching, less students are satisfied with online peer feedback when looking at the effect on their (interdisciplinary) learning. For example, students state that they value the interaction and discussion with their peer when giving and receiving feedback. However, considering that students also value the flexibility of online peer feedback, it is worthwhile to look at ways to improve interaction in online peer feedback.

References

• Huisman, B., Saab, N., van den Broek, P., & van Driel, J. (2019). The impact of formative peer feedback on higher education students’ academic writing: a Meta-Analysis. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(6), 863–880.
• Van der Pol, J., Van den Berg, B. A. M., Admiraal, W. F., & Simons, P. R. J. (2008). The nature, reception, and use of online peer feedback in higher education. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1804–1817.
• Repko, A. and Szostak, R. (2020). Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory. Sage.