ComPAIR: Using Assessment to Support Learning

This webinar took place on Feb 4th, 2022

In this webinar, we talked about using comparisons to facilitate learning using ComPAIR, open-source, peer feedback and teaching technology developed at the University of British Columbia. ComPAIR is currently being used in over 60 courses across all disciplines and faculties at the University of British Columbia and at six institutions outside of the University of British Columbia. ComPAIR makes use of students’ inherent ability and desire to compare: according to the psychological principle of comparative judgment, novices are much better at choosing the “better” of two answers than they are at giving those answers an absolute score. By scaffolding peer feedback through comparisons, ComPAIR provides an engaging, simple, and safe environment that supports two distinct outcomes: (a) students learn how to assess their own work and that of others in a way that (b) facilitates the learning of subtle aspects of course content through the act of comparing.

In this session, we discuss why comparisons facilitate learning, and our presenter, Dr. James Charbonneau, did a demonstration of what students see when they use ComPAIR. He also gives a specific example of using ComPAIR in a third-year course on the Physics of Climate and Energy where we do four-week-long “ big picture questions” that have students tackle vaguely defined problems as a class but submit papers individually to ComPAIR.