This study highlights that rank-based peer assessment can be well implemented in an interprofessional education involving 3 health professions programs (medicine, nursing, health nutrition) both before, during, and after the pandemic. Interprofessional education (IPE) is a crucial starting point for collaboration in healthcare practice. This approach presents an opportunity for professionals from different fields to come together, interact, and learn from one another. By doing so, they can gain an understanding of each other's roles, responsibilities, and expertise, which leads to better collaboration and ultimately enhances the quality of patient care.
IPE encourages a collaborative culture by promoting open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making. It provides a platform for healthcare providers to engage in meaningful discussions and develop a common language, which ultimately leads to a more cohesive and effective healthcare team [8].
This study showed rank-based peer assessment implementation did not skew the score distribution. However, the manual/paper-based normal distribution curve before the pandemic and the normal curve shifting to the right with mobile apps indicate an increase in the mean score (Fig. 2). Furthermore, changes in the pandemic period, i.e., before, during, and after the pandemic, did not affect the results of rank-based peer assessment carried out on a paper-based basis and mobile apps.
Rank-based peer assessment can be implemented in educational settings to foster a more collaborative and reflective learning environment. Research conducted by Concina [19] demonstrated that incorporating rank-based peer assessment into the evaluation process resulted in improved student engagement, critical thinking, and self-regulated learning. When students were given the opportunity to rank their peers’ work based on predefined criteria, they were more actively involved in the learning process and developed a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Additionally, the use of rank-based peer assessment encouraged students to provide constructive feedback to their peers, promoting a sense of responsibility and accountability within learning communities. Furthermore, Song et al. [20] showed rank-based peer assessment exhibit a minimum of 10% higher reliability compared to the evaluators in rating-oriented peer assessment. Additionally, a detailed examination revealed that the evaluators in ranking-based assessments show a tendency to accurately evaluate artifacts that are more distinct from one another, whereas no such trend was observed among rating-based evaluators.
Student mean scores increased significantly during the pandemic period, which coincided with the use of mobile apps and lasted until after the pandemic (Fig. 3). So, rank-based peer assessment is proven to produce normally distributed scores. Scores normally distributed are more objective where rank-based peer assessment can overcome the problem so far, namely failure to fail which is students tend to score the same as the best score [17].
Furthermore, the normal curve that shifts to the right shows that the mean scores are higher than before (Figs. 2 and 3). This could happen for a number of possible causes. First, during the pandemic, students stayed at home and were focused and serious about running the CFHC-IPE program online and also focused on online peer-assessing. Second, the curve shifting to the right when using webapps assessment methods may be due to the difference in the value range of assessment. The rating range against manual assessment was 1–5, whereas rating range against webapps method of assessment was 1–10. One of the characteristics of peer assessment is the occurrence of failure to fail [19]. The tendency of students to assess their friends with good grades was observed. In this study, we argue that the failure-to-fail might occur due to a number of reasons. Firstly, students may feel pressure to maintain positive relationships with their peers and may worry that being too critical in their assessments could damage these relationships. Additionally, students may be more inclined to give their friends the benefit of the doubt or to overlook mistakes or weaknesses in their work. It is a potential for bias, specifically, due to a tendency for students to be overly generous when evaluating the work of their friends, giving them higher grades than they might otherwise deserve [19].
Moreover, the insignificant increase in the average score between the pandemic and post-pandemic periods may indicate that the pattern of rank-based peer assessment by students has remained the same, even though the pandemic has ended. Rank-based peer assessment which are facilitated with mobile-apps do have the advantage of being able to assess objectively, accessible from anywhere and at any time which is suitable for implementation in IPE programs that involve many community-based people and students are far apart from each other. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, rank-based peer assessment presented an objective assessment. The objectivity of the assessment method is demonstrated by the normal distribution curve of the result of assessment regardless of the methods used, both manual and webapps methods. Objectivity is a vital requirement when it comes to assessment in any field. It refers to the ability to evaluate and judge something fairly, impartially, and without any personal bias or prejudice. In educational settings, objectivity in assessment ensures that students are evaluated based on their performance and knowledge rather than any other extraneous factors. Assessment results must be reliable, consistent, and unbiased to accurately measure a student's academic progress and achievement [21]. Objectivity is particularly important which can significantly impact a student's future performance and competencies achievement.
The use of objective assessment measures helps to ensure fairness and equity in the evaluation process, which is especially important in diverse classrooms where cultural and socio-economic factors can influence academic achievement. Objective assessments help to ensure that students from all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills [21]. Therefore, rank-based peer assessment that has been used to assess this activity can be implemented as an alternative method of assessment of interprofessional education activity, thus helping the involvement of diverse professions of students.
The development of mobile apps undoubtedly demands a variety of resources. As suggested by an integrative literature review [22], financial and infrastructure are among the challenges and barriers of maintaining educational technologies in health professions education. In the industrial era 5.0, technology was always developed to support learning and assessment as is seen in this study.
There is a possibility of peer grading bias, which might lead to inaccurate assessments. This is where students might receive higher or lower scores than what they deserved, and the possibility of ‘free-loaders’ [23]. The phenomenon might impact the overall fairness and validity of the assessment process, including the credibility of the educational institution. The use of clear and objective assessment criteria and peer assessment training are pivotal to mitigate the potential derailment. Moreover, faculty should consider strategies such as anonymous peer assessments, using double-blinded approach to help minimize bias [19].
Despite curve shifts to the right, the scores seen in our study are still within normal distribution. Hence, helping to distinguish between high and low performing students. Our experience in using mobile application for interprofessional peer-assessment has encouraged it to become a preferable approach during the pandemic. The nature of mobile applications is interesting and easily accessible by learners and flexible [24]. In addition, the mobile application has made facilitating assessment and reflection possible as a distance learning modality [25], in remote communities and rural areas. It is important to note the possible drawbacks on the use of online applications for learning. For instance, applications might need a good internet connection to operate optimally, which can be difficult in certain rural areas with bandwidth limitations [22]. In addition, facilitators’ supervision might be challenged due to a lack of face-to-face interaction [26].
Limitations
This study might have a limitation on the scoring differences between years/batches as the assessment tools are still under development. However, we standardized the assessment scores to the 0-100 range to ensure comparability [27]. The study focused on the peer assessment aspect of the program, and requires confirmation using other assessment results.