Students' interpersonal perspectives on, conceptions of and approaches to learning in online peer assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore students' interpersonal perspectives (i.e., psychological safety, value diversity, trust and social interdependence) on, conceptions of and approaches to learning in an online peer assessment activity required for creating digital artistic works. Twenty-three college students in Taiwan volunteered for interview after the assessment activity. This study found that, the more positive interpersonal perspectives (i.e., high psychological safety, low value diversity for goals, trust in self as assessors and positive social interdependence) the students perceived, the higher level of conceptions and approaches (i.e., cohesive conceptions and deep approaches) they held. However, for certain students, high value diversity for criteria and trust in peers as assessors might play a role in their use of deep approaches, but not in their level of conceptions. Accordingly, a model of the associations between students' interpersonal perspectives, conceptions and approaches is proposed.