ICT and 360º evaluation: Improving professional skills in higher education in Spain

Abstract

The current dynamics of knowledge and innovation generation are faced with, sometimes, incompatible social and cultural trends. Something to which the University is not oblivious. Based on contemporary studies and our own experience, one of the clearest tensions has to do with the ability to judging based on reasons and not emotions. To help with this, in the educational context, the 360-degree evaluation can be a useful instrument in terms of the strengthening of their objective judgment. It is a technique that was conceived to exercise objective evaluation, in several and concurrent ways, which also allows to know their degree of objectivity. To demonstrate its potential, a sample of 56 students was used, taking the teacher’s grading as a reference. The task involved self, peer and inter-group assessment. The methodology was mixed, with support in descriptive statistics for quantitative grades and natural language processing for comments and clarifications. It was possible to detect differences in behavior depending on the type of analysis (self-assessment, peers, and groups), as well as determining which students were most qualified to assess objectively. Another issue was the general reluctance to explain numerical grades through notes. Here we consider several factors to explore, among which we highlight: the digital tool used and the time available; the phase of the academic course and the characteristics of the task; and subjective bias, especially in cases of low score. About the experience, it has also been possible to detect some difficulties derived from the application of a methodology, as complex and demanding as the one used, which generated more than 3000 evaluations. In any case, and in view of the data obtained, we consider that the results corroborate the practical utility of this approach and invite to explore additional aspects within this area.