Peer Review in CarmenCanvas Can Aid in Students’ Learning Process

CarmenCanvas gives you the option to set up peer reviews so each student can provide feedback on others’ work. The simple setup makes peer reviews easy to incorporate in your courses, but are they easy for students to complete? How do students feel about completing such assignments and receiving feedback from their peers? Does the peer review process teach them something new?

Dean Cristol, associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, wanted to find out how valuable peer reviews were to his students. Cristol was new to peer review, first using it in his Literacy Media course in spring. At the end of this course, he surveyed his students to find out how they felt about the assignments—and to help him decide if he should incorporate peer reviews in his future courses.

The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Based on a sample of 20 students, 95% agreed that peer reviews help them become better students and create better products for class assignments. Further, 85% said that peer reviews provide valuable insights and perspectives.

On the technical side, 80% said the process for peer reviewing was clear. Most (55%) also found them easy to complete in CarmenCanvas, with 30% feeling neutral. However, 15% had difficulties with the peer review functionality.

“Be prepared for teaching some students how to use peer reviews,” Cristol advised. Instructors can share this instructional video in their course to give students an overview of the peer review process.

Overall, the positive feedback from students has Cristol sold on the value of using peer reviews in his Carmen courses. “I will definitely incorporate peer reviews in the future,” he said.