Research trends and applications of technology-supported peer assessment: a review of selected journal publications from 2007 to 2016

The study systematically reviewed 70 empirical studies on technology-supported peer assessment published in seven critical journals from 2007 to 2016. Several dimensions of the technology-supported peer-assessment studies were investigated, including the adopted technologies, learning environments, application domains, peer-assessment mode, and the research issues. It was found that, in the 10 years, there was a slight change in peer-assessment studies in terms of the adopted technologies, which were mostly traditional computers. In terms of learning environments, in the first 5 years, most activities were conducted online after class, while in the second 5 years, more activities were conducted in the classroom during school hours. Moreover, several researchers have started to consider peer assessment as a frequently adopted teaching strategy and have tried to integrate other learning strategies into peer-assessment activities to strengthen their effectiveness. In the meantime, it was found that little research engaged students in developing peer-assessment rubrics; that is, most of the studies employed rubrics developed by teachers. In terms of research issues, developing students’ higher-order thinking received the most attention. For future studies, it is suggested that researchers can explore the value and effects of adopting emerging technologies (e.g., mobile devices) in peer assessment as well as engaging students in the development of peer-assessment rubrics, which might enable them to deeply experience the tacit knowledge underlying the standard rubrics provided by the teacher.