Effectiveness of peer learning and formative assessments in hospitality education

Abstract

A formative assessment allows the lecturer to monitor and improve students’ learning by providing ongoing feedback. Peer assessment or peer review can be incorporated into this assessment and provide a structured learning process for students to critique and offer feedback to each other on their work. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of peer learning and formative assessments on the performance of 1st Year of Bachelor of Culinary Arts students in Foundation of Cuisine (GAS559) subject in 2022. In this subject, students were required to complete a 1200-word essay to describe one of the cuisines around the world. Before the final essay submission, students were permitted to submit a draft essay for feedback from the lecturer (formative assessment) and present their findings in the class to obtain feedback from peers (peer assessment). The implementation of both of these strategies into the subject has shown encouraging improvement in term of the students’ performance, as well as their engagement in the class activities compared to previous years. As a result, students’ learning experience has been enhanced significantly.