Peer assessment and group work as vehicles for student empowerment: A module evaluation

Abstract This article reflects upon the introduction of two empowering styles of teaching in a newly developed interdisciplinary module for students of geography and environmental sciences. Student reactions and evaluations are presented and contextualised. Attitudes to group work changed over the period of the module indicating some resolution of initial concerns and problems within the group; however, resistances were in part retained. Peer assessment, on the other hand, after detailed discussion of criteria and a justification for the method, was embraced more readily by students. The nature of student empowerment associated with the use of these methods is difficult to monitor and, indeed, the benefits may be delayed.