1. Nicola Wilkinson Cardiff, 16 September 2008 … enables every team member to recognise individual contributions to group work
2. History of WebPA 1998 Paper based system Open source version of WebPA 2008 2007 WebPA made open to all at Loughborough University 2005 WebPA project 2006 2002 PASS System Re-write of PASS became WebPA 2004 Winner of an International Award
3. A well known criticism of assessed group work is that each student receives the same team mark, regardless of individual performance
4. By using WebPA to peer assess group work, each student received an adjusted mark Marked by students, the people that know!
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6. Flexibility to create assessment criteria, scoring ranges and groups to suit the way you teach, in any subject discipline How do teachers benefit from using WebPA?
7. The generation of individual student marks is automated using a researched and trusted method. How do teachers benefit from using WebPA?
8. Students are involved in the assessment process, reflecting on their own and their peers’ performance How do learners benefit from using WebPA?
9. It is a fair and confidential way of assessing individuals within group work activities How do learners benefit from using WebPA?
10. It positively impacts upon individual performance and team dynamics , enriching the overall learning experience . How do learners benefit from using WebPA?
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13. “ Overall, marking is honest and credible” Dr Keith Pond Business School Loughborough University Dr Carol Robinson Assistant Director (Teaching and Learning) Mathematics Education Centre Loughborough University “ Students are much more satisfied – complaints have almost disappeared.”
14. “ Some of the best modules during my Engineering degree were group based modules. The combination of the team working and the peer assessment was a great introduction to working in a team within industry.” Alan Curtis Research Engineer JCB Power Systems Ltd
15. "WebPA is now embedded in our first year and will be for the next five years. Typically 180-200 students will be subjected to.. [WebPA] ..every year." Dr Bob Cherry Manchester Metropolitan University “ We are impressed with the success of the WebPA project and the impact on group work in higher education.” David Kernohan Programme Manager eLearning Team JISC
The WebPA project has been funded under the JISC: e-Learning Capital Programme. The life time of the project for the funded period is October 2006 to March 2009. However, as the project has been made open source the life time of the project is expected to continue after the funding period has ended. As identified by the project, the main aims have been to; Enhancement the online peer assessment system “WebPA” Provide a mature open source peer assessment system “WebPA OS” Sep’08 Disseminate models of pedagogic use Advance the service oriented approach for application development within the JISC e-Learning Framework All of which the project team have been able to achieve and more as well. The aim of the WebPA tool is to provide a mechanism through which the system …enables every team member to recognise an individuals contributions to the group work. Really we are talking about a peer moderated marking system for group work. WebPA was originally intended to measure the process of what occurs in group work out-side none contact time with the tutors. And allow the students to provide input into the assessment process to provide fairer individual marks for each group/ team member. However, there are no reasons why the tool can not be used to measure product as well. This is one of the real benefits of the tool, it is flexible enough to allow academic tutors to look at product or process through formative or summative assessment, from the groups (students) perspective.