by Nick Carbone, Cindy Wambeam, and Douglas Eyman
One of the strengths of a writing class comes from peer review—students commenting on one another's writing. Online peer review allows students to continue working with peers and mentors outside of the classroom.
In the traditional classroom, peer review typically involves exchanging papers, commenting on drafts, and peer-group meetings that use direct feedback and talk-aloud protocols. Using network technologies allows us to teach students new modes of collaboration that not only streamline the peer-review process, but also all for private partnerships (using email), semi-public group work (using course management systems or discussion boards available only to the group or class), or a completely public process (using Web sites).
No matter what kind of peer review system you choose, you must first make sure that students are prepared to provide insightful and functional commentary on their peers' drafts. The technology-facilitated peer review systems discussed in this workshop can make peer review easier to manage, but they do not guarantee that students will engage in the kind of critical thinking and commenting that is most helpful to their peers.