Peer Evaluation

The 42 pedagogical system is based on peer learning, including the peer-evaluations.

Since at 42 we don’t require a minimum coding level to start the piscine, it is possible that the candidates are not yet able to judge if their peer's code is correct, functional, and not crashing or not. That is why for the first projects we have an automated set of tests that aims to increase the quality of students’ progression.

Evaluations are an opportunity for students to collect constructive feedback on their code. Please utilise this opportunity instead of focusing on perfecting your work.

Learning is stimulated when there is a commitment to share ideas and engage in a meaningful conversation. Make sure that the evaluation is not a one-way monologue nor an examination. It is important to recognises that the person (and not simply the code) is important in the evaluation.

Never trust someone who tells you defenses are a waste of time. This kind of speech is the symptom of someone who don’t understand the school’s philosophy and goals." ~ 42 France

If you do not have prior bocal approval and your evaluation is flagged as remote (for both parties),

Your evaluation may be cancelled and you will lose an evaluation point
Your intra may be locked until you complete a community service (decided by the spinning wheel)

Your evaluation may also be cancelled if we find out that:

evaluator gives a score or feedback that evaluatee shouldn't receive
evaluator/evaluatee is gaining an unfair advantage during project work

Open your evaluation slot

Go to "Manage Slots" in your profile page and create a time slot convenient for you.

We would strongly advise you to open your slot for peers when you are on campus.

15 minutes before the evaluation session you will be notified on the intra which peer you will be evaluating and what project.

Sending a project for defence

Once you have submitted a project (set the project as finished), you will see the following screen. We can see that:

this project needs 3 peer evaluations.
you have one day to evaluate this project once you have submitted it .

As soon as you have submitted your project, immediately subscribe to the defence and book a slot for evaluation.

Note: Please contact bocal if you have any issues with getting the slots to evaluate peers or to be evaluated.

You are evaluating!

You are being evaluated!

Before

Time management
Evaluation Preparation

Being on time and allocate sufficient time to the evaluation
Make sure you go through the project that you are going to evaluate to familiarise yourself with the required outputs. If the project is one you haven't done before, you can download the project pdf from the respective project page.

Being on time and present
Allocating sufficient time to the evaluation
Making sure if you have a good understanding on the project before the evaluation
Maintaining academic integrity standards

During

Testing
Checking for Understanding
Grade if the code works or not
Look for the flags (ie. cope and paste)

Avoiding taking a position of an ‘expert’ and recognizing that students may be nervous / anxious
Using the evaluation sheet as the core for the evaluation
Cloning the repository and then pressing "Begin Evaluation" and start reviewing and grading their work.
Following the evaluation sheet and not progressing to upcoming evaluation phases if an early phase is incomplete
Being respectful of alternative perspectives and recognizing that there are often multiple solutions to the same problem
Identifying (in a conversation) how even good code could become great code
Asking ‘appropriately’ challenging questions, and not seeking to trip the student up by asking unnecessarily complex questions
(If applicable) Raising concerns over academic/behaviour misconduct sensitively and by showing evidence of the allegation

Seeking to turn identified gaps of knowledge and problems in the code into opportunities to learn and develop
Explaining your code and ensuring to use language that is understandable
Avoiding aggressive or defensive positions
Controlling emotions during the evaluation
Not pressurizing the evaluator to award a score hat is not justified
If you disagree, talk it out until you come to a conclusion.
Making sure to review properly on the evaluator's marking as this is important for your final score.

After

Marking
Giving Constructive Feedback

Acknowledging the time and personal commitment the student has placed in developing the code
Thanking the student (or evaluator) for their dedication to the task and, (drawing on specific examples), identifying how their dedication made the evaluation a more meaningful experience
Evaluating the project, not the student
Submitting the feedback immediately after the session ends

After the reviewer gives feedback, you also need to leave a review to complete the process.
After you have been evaluated twice, your code will also be evaluated by the system, and you will receive your mark.

Evaluation Comment

Providing written feedback that:

is ‘specific and actionable’
identifies the main points raised during the evaluation and the comments are aligned with the awarded score
highlight the positive aspects of the project submission (not singly looking for errors)

Example:

Student 1: Had a great discussion with the reviewee on his understanding of pointer and memory allocation. I would advise him to remember to fix the norm error next time.

Student 2: This student had a good understanding of the code, however, it was evidenced that he copied the code from other as he had a header with someone else's name. Unfortunately, I would need to flag him with cheating.

Student 1: Well done Excellent Well done Excellent Well done Excellent Well done Excellent Well done Excellent Well done Excellent Well done Excellent

Student 2: Poor code too bad! Stupid

Student 3: Go nuts! Why you check my norm

Student 4: Good work

Evaluation Points

After evaluating a project, you gain a point. You will get two points after evaluating the project born2beroot.
For every evaluation you request, you spend 1 evaluation point.
You will receive a point back from the evaluator if the evaluator do not show up.
Point donations to other peers have to be approved by Bocal.

If you have more than 20 points in your account, please donate the points back to the pool to maintain the balance of the evaluation system. (we will be periodically running a script to facilitate the points cap)

Evaluation Flags

Can't support / Explain code: 0

Cheat: -42

Evaluation Questions - Suggestion Only

Ask questions in accordance with the evaluation sheet
You can also ask a few big picture/detailed oriented/reflective questions to stimulate reflection on learning

Big Picture Questions

Questions to see how well students know what 'problem the code is solving'

Without looking at the code (or talking specifically about the actual code), what is the purpose of the program / function?
What was the logic you used to solve the problem?
In pseudocode, tell me what is happening and how the code works
Draw a flow chart of the code and its major operations
How can this project be adapted to solve other problems?
How is this project different from other projects?
How is this project similar to other projects?

Detailed Oriented Questions

Focus on the code an seek to understand precisely what is happening

Looking at your code, describe what is going on in 'this function’.'
Tell me about a couple of scenarios. For instance, “if the arguments of ‘this function are equal to abc, what would happen? What happens if the arguments are now xyz?”
What test scenarios have you created and performed to be sure the code operates as expected?
What errors / unexpected input etc., are you catching in your code and how are you catching them?
How would you develop the code further to perform additional / new (related) functionality?
Write a Main to show me how this function works.
How else could you write 'this function'?’

Reflective Questions

Focus the student’s mind on what they have learned from working on the project, and how they will use that learning for future projects.

What did you find most challenging about this project?
What coding skills have you developed by completing this project?
In relation to this project, what are you still a little uncertain about?
What will you do now to strengthen the areas you are still uncertain about?
What questions did you not want me to ask you?
What questions would you ask a student that you are evaluating (on this project) to know they understand their code and see what they have learned?
How will you document you learning so that you can use that learning in future projects / work?

You can have as many attempts as you like to pass a project. Remember at 42 failure is CELEBRATED and is a foundation of the 42 experience.

You learn by doing and using all moments, (successful or unsuccessful) to support your knowledge building.

FAQ

What is the art of the peer evaluation?

https://meta.intra.42.fr/articles/the-art-of-peer-evaluation

What is the guideline for evaluation?

The evaluation sheet is the core for the evaluation. Evaluations vary in length, they may take 15min or an hour. The evaluator will follow the evaluation sheet.

Please note that:

For any norminette or compilation errors (and cheating too!). Means that you will receive "No" for the remaining questions even if they may be correct.
You will be flagged with "Cheating" and receive a community service if the evaluator suspects and finds out the evidence of the allegation.

However, the evaluator can decide to continue with the evaluation and ask additional questions (beyond the evaluation sheet) to stimulate reflection on learning. Please contact staff if you would like to raise any concerns over academic / behaviour misconduct.

Is there any time limitation for the evaluations for each project like Piscine?

Evaluations don't need to be completed with 24hrs of submission. Use this to your advantage, don't rush evals. Take your time to learn the project, and ask questions ESPECIALLY if you are yet to do the project or learn the concepts used.

Should I create my own tester?

We encourage you to create your own tester even this work won't have to be submitted and won't be graded. It will give you a chance to develop your skills in testing (your work and your peers' work) and quality assurance. You will find those tests especially useful during your defence. During defence, you are free to use your tester and/or the tester of the peer you are evaluating.

What will happen if I do not pass my project?

You can keep trying until you pass. You can look at your project trace via email, and ask the evaluator and your peers to generate the ideas to debug your project. Please note that your project will be locked for at least 24 hours until you can resubmit it. The resubmission time of a project is shown on the project page.

Can I remove the evaluation slot I have created?

It is ok to remove slots you have created, but once a slot is booked, you cannot change it. If either party cancels, fails to turn up, or is late, the offending party will lose an evaluation point. The trick to not losing points unnecessarily is to be respectful of your peers: show up on time!

What if I accidentally mark someone with a "No" in one of the questions that is supposed to be a "Yes"?

As it's a peer-to-peer evaluation, both parties are responsible to make sure the evaluation to run smoothly. Staff may not be able to make any changes for any completed evaluations and you may need to re-do the evaluation. However, please contact staff if there is any system error occurred.

What does it mean by gaining an unfair advantage during project work?

Submitting a project that does not compile or work at all, but which has been validated during a defence.
Submitting the work of another student and claim it as their own work
Being evaluated on a project produced by someone else (copying a project and not understanding it, having some files or headers from other students
As an evaluator, validating a project that has obvious cheating from the student that submitted the work
Undertaking remote evaluations. If not explicitly authorised in the project or the rating guidelines, remote evaluations are forbidden. Both the student and the evaluator must be physically in the school, in front of the same computer.
Seeking opportunities to bypass the Moulinette or change the official repository of the evaluation (ex: with zsh aliases).

How do the system calculate my overall score for each project?

The overall score for your project will take account of both the peer reviews and the Moulinette review.

What should I do if I have more than 20 evaluation points?

Points will be reset back to maximum 20 points at the beginning of every week. Feel free to donate the point back to the pool by clicking the recycling button on the intranet.

Can I evaluate from home?

Please contact bocal as each situation will be accessed case-by-case.

All evaluations have to be done on campus, for both parties. (unless remote status has been approved by bocal)

You are welcome to work on your own device on the campus, but please remember to login to the student wifi.

Why am I not getting the evaluation slots for some projects, especially after ring 4?

Even though students might not always be explicitly informed about prerequisites, it's possible that some projects require completion of other specific projects before you can be evaluated.

If you’re still unsure why you’re not getting evaluation slots, consider reaching out to bocals. We can provide clarity on any prerequisites or issues that might be affecting your ability to book an evaluation slot.

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