Peer assessment (while beneficial in many ways) can be a daunting experience for many people. It requires students to open up to their classmates and be vulnerable to others’ thoughts, judgments, critiques, and praise.

Personally, I don’t mind peer assessment if I am allowed to choose who is assessing me, but being paired with someone  I may not be totally comfortable with, often makes me feel self-conscious and nervous. I know from conversations with my friends that this feeling is shared by others.

Before a teacher implements peer assessment, I think that they should have a conversation with the class about respect and consideration for others’ insecurities. Even a brief conversation surrounding this can help put people’s concerns at ease, evoke more constructive feedback, and create an environment that fosters positive communication and trust.

For this class, I feel that peer assessment can be very helpful since my peers can look over my work with fresh eyes, and even relate their own work to mine. This allows us to contrast and compare different ideas and approaches to writing and website design.