title: Peer assessment of small-group presentations by medical students and its implications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among medical students' assessments on peers' group presentations, instructors' assessments of those presentations, and students' educational achievements in other assignments and tests.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 101 first-year students from a medical school participated in the study. The students' educational achievements in a 4-week long integrated curriculum were analyzed. Student's final grades were comprised of the following education criteria: two written tests (60%), 15 group reports (25%), one individual report (7%), and four group presentations (15%). We compared scores of the group presentation assessed by the peers and the two instructors. Furthermore, we compared peers' assessment scores with each component of the evaluation criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pearson correlation analysis showed significant correlaton for the assessments between peers and instructors (r=0.775, p<0.001). Peer assessment scores also correlated significantly with scores for the group assignments (r=0.777, p<0.001), final grades on the curriculum (r=0.345, p<0.001), and scores for individual assignments (r=0.334, p<0.001); however, no significant correlation was observed between the peer-assessed group presentation scores and the two written test scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Peer assessments may be a reliable and valid method for evaluating medical students' performances in an integrated curriculum, especially if the assessments are used to academic processes, such as presentations, with explicit evaluation and judgment criteria. Peer assessments on group presentations might assess different learning domains compared to written tests that primarily evaluate limited medical knowledge and clinical reasoning.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Sunmi
authors: S
authors: Yoo
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Kayoung
authors: K
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Sang Heon
authors: SH
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Medical Education, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Hyerin
authors: H
authors: Roh
authors: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Jong Tae
authors: JT
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
authors: Byoung Doo
authors: BD
authors: Rhee
authors: Learning, Design, and Technology Program, The University of Georgia College of Education, Athens, GA, USA.
authors: Ikseon
authors: I
authors: Choi
keywords: Group processes; Peer review; Self-evaluation programs; Teaching