The accuracy of student grading in first-year engineering courses

Assessment has become a powerful tool to change student learning. In a project of the Council of Engineering Courses of the University of Minho, Portugal, students of textile engineering, apparel engineering and industrial electronics increased their participation in every aspect of their assessment process. The traditional exam was changed to three assessment moments with increasing student involvement. The goal of the project was to try to change the learning styles of the students to more profound ones and to look at the grading ability of the students, which means their ability to mark their peers' or their own work. It was supposed that engineering students would have major difficulties in grading themselves and their peers, because they were inexperienced first-year students and because it is not a common practice on the engineering courses of the University of Minho. It was found that students were able to grade their colleagues and themselves and that the level of accuracy depended on their final grade.