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Researchers concurred that peer assessment is an effective teaching method to improve student learning (Gielen, Dochy & Onghena, 2011; Gielen, Dochy, Onghena, Struyven & Smeets, 2011; Li, 2011; KoÃ, 2011; Kritikos, Woulfe, Sukkar & Saini, 2011; Mok, 2011; Finn & Garner, 2011; Nicholson, 2011; Nulty, 2011; Wu, Davison & Sheehan, 2012). Delegating assessment work to experienced students is an efficient approach to help professors manage large classes and to expedite returning feedback (Dollisso & Koundinya, 2011; Johnson & Aragon, 2003; Kritikos, Woulfe, Sukkar & Saini, 2011; Li & Lei-na, 2012; Mok, 2011; Strang, 2013a; Thomas, Martin & Pleasants, 2011; Willey & Gardner, 2010; Zhi-Feng & Lee, 2013).
However, there were gaps in the literature addressed by this study. First, several researchers have found peer assessment was an effective pedagogy in an online course (Bayat & Naicker, 2012; Dollisso & Koundinya, 2011; Johnson & Aragon, 2003; Li & Lei-na, 2012; Lu & Law, 2012; Lu & Zhang, 2012; Wu, Hou & Hwang, 2012; Zhang & Blakey, 2012; Zhi-Feng & Lee, 2013). The problem with existing studies was that the reliability of student assessing was not being measured (Bedore & O'Sullivan, 2011; Falchikov & Goldfinch, 2000; Neus, 2011; Sadler, 2009). Other researchers questioned how to calculate the reliability of student assessment work (Fleiss, Nee & Landis, 1979; Heyman & Sailors, 2011; Speyer, Pilz, Van Der Kruis & Brunings, 2011).
Applying web-based technology such as a Learning Management System (LMS) for peer assessment is advocated especially for large online courses (Laurillard, 2007; McCabe, 2007; Li, Liu & Zhou, 2012; Shih, 2011). There are standalone software programs to automate peer assessment (e.g., iPeer; WebPA; SPARK) or subsystems (e.g., PeerMark within TurnItIn). Paradoxically, although Moodle is an open source LMS with a built-in module for peer assessment, there were no studies in the literature for conducting peer assessments and measuring their reliability. In fact, one scholar implied that faculty may refrain from using peer assessments due to the above concerns, despite their proven value as a learning tool (Bedore & O'Sullivan, 2011).
The researcher tried to address these problems here, namely, exploring how to conduct peer assessments in the Moodle LMS and then developing protocols to measure if students completed the work reliably. A secondary goal of this research was to determine if peer assessing was practical for a large online class with long essay type assignments. This study was conducted using Moodle across several sections of a hybrid business course at the State University of New York (N=90), where there were three 25-page written reports with oral presentations.