The use of peer evaluations to measure student performance and critical thinking ability

Since the fall of 2003 the instructor of the Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) course in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has used peer evaluations as one means to measure performance of student oral presentations. The goal of the peer evaluations is to (1) provide a means of evaluation other than the instructors and to (2) provide students practice in critical thinking. Each student\´s presentation is evaluated in seven areas - organization, language use, material coverage, physical presence, vocal presence, visual aid use, and length. The students, as well as the instructor, rate each category based on a 5 point scale where 1 is "unacceptable" and 5 is "outstanding". In comparing the average student evaluations with those of the instructor, it first appears that students have difficulty critically reviewing other\´s work. However, a more in-depth look at the data reveals that students can differentiate between good, average, and poor performance, though not per the given scale standards. It is possible to use the study findings to develop a simple conversion model that converts student evaluations to predict true student performance. This, however, is left for future activity.