TEACHING STUDENTS TO GIVE AND TO RECEIVE: IMPROVING DISCIPLINARY WRITING THROUGH PEER REVIEW

This paper describes the multi-disciplinary collaboration of six faculty members who implemented peer review in order to improve student writing. Each faculty member developed their own assignments and peer review process, but followed the same general guidelines. Students submitted drafts to peers who made comments and used a rubric to provide formative feedback. The instructors used a variety of tools to support peer review including Google Drive, Blackboard, and Expertiza, a dedicated peer-review system. Students reflected on the peer review process in an online survey after each round of peer review. The survey results varied considerably between the classes suggesting the importance of the instructor, assignment, and peer review process, but there were also common themes across courses. Quantitative results suggest students valued peer review more when they knew who they were reviewing and who reviewed them, and that students found the first round of peer review more helpful than subsequent. Qualitative results differed, showing many students appreciated the anonymity provided by computer-supported peer reviews. Students had little tolerance for technology that was not intuitive or reliable. In general, students appreciated receiving feedback from their peers, especially comments that were specific and pointed out areas for improvement. They were less receptive to being graded by peers, especially when low marks were not explained. Students liked seeing other students' work as this helped them gauge their performance, but many felt uncomfortable giving critical feedback and expressed concern about their lack of expertise.