Buddycheck
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What is Buddycheck?
Buddycheck is a Canvas integrated tool for peer evaluation of group work contribution. It can be used to enable students to evaluate their own and their peer's contribution to, and performance in, group work. The output is an adjustment factor which can be used to update the mark awarded to each student individually.
Evaluations can also be set up that do not generate an adjustment factor. Two default questions are available on Team Conflict and Team Satisfaction which use a 1-5 scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree), and it is also possible to create custom questions using this scale. Early on in a group project this information can be used to stage appropriate interventions where there may be issues within groups.
In addition to the guides below our Wayfinder on Peer Assessment in Group Work covers the workflow of implementing Buddycheck from group and assignment set up in Canvas through to using evaluation results.
How do I use Buddycheck in a Course?
Buddycheck needs to be added as a course navigation link in the Canvas course. The guide to adding Buddycheck to a Canvas course details the required steps.
Buddycheck works with group sets in Canvas. Group sets and the groups within them need to be created in Canvas before setting up Buddycheck evaluations.
Setting up a Buddycheck evaluation
Once Buddycheck has been added to the course navigation of a Canvas course, colleagues with the instructor role on a course can create and access the Buddycheck evaluations for that course. The guide for Setting up Buddycheck Evaluations details the required steps.
It is possible to use a previous Buddycheck evaluation as a template. This will pull in the settings and questions used previously but not any student group information. Questions can also be brought in from other evaluations that you have access to. The steps for these options are covered in the guidance above.
Creating questions in Buddycheck
Buddycheck comes with some default questions however it is possible to create your own peer and team evaluation questions. The guide for Creating Questions in Buddycheck details the required steps.
Questions can be reused across Buddycheck evaluations. See the above information on Setting up a Buddycheck Evaluation.
Open Questions & Peer Messages
Buddycheck allows for text entry or free text comments to be added by students. The guide Open Questions & Peer Messages details the available options and recommendations.
Amending Buddycheck evaluations
Until a Buddycheck evaluation has opened to students, the settings and options can be amended in their entirety.
Once an evaluation has opened to students there is less flexibility in terms of settings that can be amended, however it is still possible to update the groups in Canvas and then resync them with the Buddycheck evaluation.
The guidance on amending a Buddycheck evaluation provides further information.
Using Buddycheck evaluation results
Buddycheck generates an adjustment factor that can be used to adjust a group work mark for an individual student. The adjustment factor is calculated by dividing the individual student average score by the group average score. There are further details on the math behind Buddycheck in Buddycheck’s guidance on adjustment factor calculations.
How much impact the adjustment factor has on the final mark for an individual student can be controlled by applying an appropriate weighting.
There are some examples of how the adjustment factor works in practice, and the Buddycheck weighting excel example can be used to demonstrate how different weightings could impact the final individual student mark.
The results of a Buddycheck evaluation can either be downloaded into Excel for manipulation with final marks being imported directly into the Canvas gradebook, or the Buddycheck grade sync tool can be used to automatically update the Canvas gradebook after applying the appropriate weighting. The guide to using Buddycheck evaluation results covers both options.
Understanding feedback labels
Buddycheck’s guidance on adjustment factor calculations also includes further information on the calculations for ‘Feedback Labels’.
Feedback Labels are used to provide insights into the work dynamics within a group. They are indicative only and can assist with identifying issues within groups early on in a group project or when the final evaluation is completed. This information can enable appropriate interventions to be staged such as meeting with the group or changing group memberships. The appropriateness of an intervention and the interpretation of Feedback Labels is down to individual academic units.
