I.J. Modern Education and Computer Science, 2017, 4, 32-42 Published Online April 2017 in MECS (http://www.mecs-press.org/) DOI: 10.5815/ijmecs.2017.04.04 Copyright © 2017 MECS I.J. Modern Education and Computer Science, 2017, 4, 32-42 A Network-Based Peer Evaluation Strategy Mohamed A. Alket Assistant Professor, College of Science and Arts in Alrass, Qassim University, KSA Email: medolink@gmail.com Abstract—The purpose of this study was to design a network-based peer evaluation strategy -which included two types of peer evaluation (known and unknown) to investigate the effect of these two types on developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills for students in Java object oriented programming language course (OOP). The participants of this study were twenty-four (n=24) students at College of Science and Arts, Qassim university. The results revealed that the two types of peer evaluation (in both known and unknown) had a positive effect on developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills for students. After, the comparison between the post-application of the two experimental groups in the problem solving and critical thinking skills, although there is a slightly higher between mean ranks in the sake of the unknown group, the results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups. Finally, the researcher recommended to using a network-based peer evaluation strategy with other specializations and a large sample. Index Terms—Peer evaluation, problem-solving skills, object-oriented programming, and critical thinking. I. INTRODUCTION Evaluation processes are affected by the ICT, as is the case in the educational process as a whole. Moreover, new variables appeared that affect the evaluation process in terms of the form and style of presentation, content material, ways and means used, as well as the environment in which evaluation processes occur. This was associated with all that is new in the technological world including the Internet, social networking, educational content management systems and cloud computing. Other innovations in technology impact the world all the time. Thus, they come to affect the provision of tools and patterns that one should invest in a systematic and orderly education. Hence, the evaluation process has evolved to improve judgment on what students know and what they can do and to become effective learning tools. One such process is peer evaluation [18]. As mentioned in [34] peer evaluation is a process in which learners evaluate the performance or achievement of peers. Although this concept is more general, many researchers clarified it in more detail such as [49]who defined peer evaluation as a type of motivating students, consists of students' discussions and providing instance feedback on other students' works. Therefore peer evaluation has been used in more than form, but the majority was used in two forms (summative evaluation and formative evaluation). The summative evaluation used to judge the performance of students at the end of the course or module, while formative evaluation is used for learning. It is targeted in this study as this form which provides effective participation opportunities and collaborative work among the learners. It also allows good learning opportunities for student participation in teaching each other. Hence, it contributes to more understanding, self-appreciation, developing critical and creative thinking, thus enhancing the ability to motivate learners. A student plays in this form the role of an assessor for each other's work and is assessed by other peers; therefore they should present constructive feedback on their peer's works and receive responses. From the aforementioned, it may be deduced that peer evaluation presents learning features which can be summarised in the following:  Engaging learners to enhance deeper thinking and to interact with multiple learning resources [11].  Improving students’ skills in problem-solving by learning from the mistakes and innovations of peers [19].  Requiring critical thinking by students; thus enhancing the ability to motivate students [46].  Giving students some control and responsibility [13].  Encouraging students to take an active role in managing their own learning [49].  Improving the high-order thinking and learning motivation of students [56].  Acquiring cognitive for assessors and assesses. [41]. In addition to features of peer evaluation, a network- based evaluation (internet, intranet) adds many advantages for activating the role of the learners. More broadly, it depends on network properties. Some features that can be obtained from a network-based peer evaluation can be illustrated in the following:  Presenting direct and immediate feedback on other students’ works.  Presenting many types of feedback.  Using multimedia in feedback (text- image - animation - audio).  Providing interaction and discussion among peers.  Showing a list of enrolled peers online.