Peer Assessment in the Context of Team-Based Learning in Undergraduate Education: How Far Can We Go?

In medical education, the team-based learning method (TBL) is a teaching strategy used to intensify interactive learning in small groups, in which the student is given the role of evaluating his/her peers - peer assessment (PA). To investigate the interference of the students' interpersonal relationships in awarding their peers grades (''halo effect''). A qualitative and quantitative retrospective study. The study participants were 78 first-year medical students, divided into 17 teams for the TBL. The final grade of the PA for each member was calculated by the average of the grades received from their peers. Results: The comparison between the average of the evaluations in the TBL method (MTBLs) and the PA showed that 17.64% of the teams showed a significant difference between the grades, thus having the “halo effect”. In the qualitative analysis, the “halo effect” was evidenced in only one of these teams. Although many studies corroborate the idea that using PA in the formative assessment is appropriate, advancing in the use of PA in the summative assessment is necessary, integrating it into the institution's evaluation system. Data presented here can help in continuing its use and in increasing its reliability.