Video assessment module: self, peer, and teacher post-performance assessment for learning

Assessing student presentations can be made more reliable with videorecording and post-performance rating. Further, self assessment and peer assessment can aid in the learning process by students when using specific, easy-to-understand rubrics. A ten-year action research study involved video-recorded performance assessment tasks using a free, open-source Moodle module developed by Sapporo Gakuin University. The Video Assessment Module (VAM) allowed teachers to video record English presentations and upload them to the module for students for self and peer assessment on specific rubrics using qualitative and quantitative criteria. When compared to paper rubrics, the VAM reduced teacher management time and students could use out-of-class time to assess asynchronously without time pressure. Results showed that there was a higher difference in teacher variance for self assessment when compared to teacher variance with peer assessment. Qualitative and quantitative results reported value in using the tool by both students and teachers. This study also showed that students can be trained to use online rubrics to score presentations efficiently, giving further validity for using and developing online modules for video assessment.


Introduction
In performance-based learning, comprehensively assessing large numbers of students on given individual performances has long been a tedious and even unproductive quest for educators throughout second language education. Furthermore, Gardner (2012) proposed that for learners to learn from the assessment, they needed to be part of the process. This led to practices such as self and peer assessment, both in score-giving and qualitative feedback. Nicol, Thomson, and Breslin (2014) surveyed peer feedback research and observed that effects on both the receiver of peer feedback and the giver of peer feedback need to be examined. Based on these principles, the main research question of this study was whether online tools could be used and developed to aid in the process of post-performance self and peer assessment. Secondly, could participation in this type of self and peer assessment aid in improving future English as a Foreign Language (EFL) presentation performance for students? Other pertinent research questions such as the use of other feedback tools (paper, face-to-face), and timing of assessing (real time versus post-performance) are summarized in earlier action research by Rian, Hinkelman, and McGarty (2012), Rian, Hinkelman, and Cotter (2015), and Hinkelman and Cotter (2018). However, for the purpose of this study, results pertaining to the 2019 development cycle of online video assessment tools will be addressed.

Course background
Each year, course participants comprise 50-60 second year English major students and two teachers at Sapporo Gakuin University. Students engage in a compulsory oral English presentation skills class titled 'Oral Communication C'. During weekly 90 minute classes over a single semester of 15 weeks, students were required to prepare for and deliver five presentations on varying themes such as giving instructions (speech to inform) or Hokkaido sightseeing recommendations (speech to persuade). Participation levels were high in these top two levels of classes (2019 n=34) with 87% in-class attendance rate and an average rate of nine out of ten out-of-class homework quizzes. The research question involved whether students could be trained to assess using online rubrics and whether they found value in the process.
After the decision in 2009 to move from paper rubrics to online tools for assessment, the teaching team of this course spent ten years researching, developing, improving, and reporting on assessment types (paper, verbal, online), assessment groupings (self, peer, class, teacher), and tools (Moodle learning management system, forum module, VAM) blended in an EFL speech communication class, as outlined in supplementary materials, part A. Funding for the module development was provided by internal university grants and seed funding by universities in the Moodle Association of Japan.

VAM functions
Using the Moodle VAM, teachers or students could upload presentation videos directly to Moodle and students could watch them while completing self and/or peer assessments on predetermined rubrics, simple at first, and becoming more complex late in the course. Comments could also be made for each criteria and or as a whole. The teacher could also assess and separate weightings for self, peer, and teacher scores respectively. Figure 1 below shows a screen with a video-recording playback window for both teacher and student viewing while rubric scales are checked and brief comments are made.

Data collection
Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in 2019, as done in previous cycles. Overall scores could be downloaded from the Moodle gradebook and the VAM directly and statistical analysis performed via Excel as shown in Table 1 below.
In addition, end of course voluntary student satisfaction surveys (supplementary materials, part B) were given using the questionnaire module in Moodle. Qualitative data from students was also collected through the surveys and the Moodle Forum module helped collate qualitative data for the focus group of the teachers by recording weekly comments in a teaching journal.

Discussion
Results from online learner assessment scores are consistent with those of previous years. Students continue to score themselves lower on post-performance assessment tasks than teachers on all presentations. An average total over the five presentations saw self assessments 8.2-9.0% lower than teacher assessments in the respective years, compared to only a 1.3-1.5 lower average difference by peers respectively. Students did not try to raise their score, but graded themselves more severely than their teachers. This is consistent with the general tendency of Japanese students to rate themselves modestly (Hinkelman & Cotter, 2018). Due to this high variance between teacher and self-ratings, a lower weighting of 20% was assigned to self assessment scores than to teacher scores (80%).
From the 2019 student satisfaction surveys (supplementary materials, part B) we can see that 92% of students responded positively (agree or strongly agree) to watching their own videos, and 77% valued rating their own presentations respectively. 73% found value in classmates rating their presentations, which shows strong support for using the VAM tool for assessment and learning. 92% of students also regarded feedback from the teacher as helping them improve their presentations which could portray perceived teacher expertise, experience, or comparatively more detailed feedback by teachers compared to classmates on the rubric. Interestingly, the highest value of 96% was achieved on the survey by students agreeing that watching live presentations of their classmates was helpful to improving their presentations.

Conclusions
Over the ten cycles (years) of action research on this oral presentation course, the evolution of post-performance video watching, along with self and peer assessment, has proven to be a successful formative tool. This most recent 2019 cycle has been no different, results showing that the VAM draws the students into a more learnerfocused mode of assessment, putting Gardner's (2012) theory of 'assessment for learning' into practice. Students reported that being part of the assessment process through using the tool had helped them improve for future performances. Taking the role of 'evaluators' by using the VAM ultimately requires the students to first revisit the presentations again by viewing the videos, go through the cognitive process of scoring and giving feedback to their peers and to themselves, and finally reflect on all feedback received. We can also see that, as part of the assessment process, a complex rubric with specific criteria can be understood and used by intermediatelevel students, in this case using their L2, to evaluate video-recorded student performances in an oral presentation course. Although some cultural modesty took place, students placed enough importance on the task as not to try and purposefully score themselves or their peers higher than teachers, or wantonly assign grades due to lack of motivation or time. The convenience of the VAM being able to be used during class or out-of-class, and having the ability to create rubrics to match the assessment criteria and level of students, may have had a part to play in this.
It is our view that future cycles of this research area need to concentrate on determining the most appropriate rubric language and rubric length to match learners and also to investigate whether students themselves have any ideas on how they would like to participate in the evaluation process.

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