Peer Review Best Practices Guide

Peer review is an active learning technique in which students evaluate peer assignment submissions and provide each other feedback. There are several benefits to using peer review in a course, including increased attention to detail and quality and engagement in constructive critique (Chong, Goff & Dej, 2012). Peer review may also help students develop effective problem-solving strategies (Wagner & Rutherford, 2019). Peer reviews can impart cognitive benefits for both students who conduct reviews and students who receive peer feedback (Knight & Steinbach, 2011). When implemented effectively, the peer review process equips students with valuable feedback and promotes classroom community.

Despite the myriad benefits of peer review, instructors should anticipate potential challenges when including this practice in an online course. One barrier to success when implementing online peer reviews is student frustration, which can be created by technological difficulties and also by a lack of clarity around the peer review process. If community and trust have not been fostered in the online environment, additional issues can arise. To ensure a positive experience for all, it is important for instructors to be intentional when planning and implementing peer review activities.

Peer review is most commonly associated with writing assignments, but writing is not the only possible application. Peer reviews promote higher order learning such as synthesis, analysis, and evaluation across a variety of assignment types (Knight & Steinbach, 2011). Consider having students provide feedback on presentations, products, programming and mathematical solutions, among other activities.

When appropriate, incorporate peer review into several assignments throughout the course. If there is a large deliverable due at the end of the course, consider incorporating peer review in drafts or scaffolded deliverables throughout the term. Peer reviews create opportunities for students to receive valuable formative feedback, which can significantly enhance the quality of their summative assignments. Repeated use of peer reviews also encourages student-to-student engagement and community building.

When introducing a peer review assignment in a course, model desired feedback to help students understand expectations. This could include providing a completed sample rubric or sharing a few examples of written comments that model appropriate and meaningful feedback.

The following strategies can help you to optimize the peer review experience for students and instructors alike.

• Provide students with step-by-step instructions for submitting their own work and conducting the review. Familiarizing yourself with the peer review process from your students' point of view can help you determine what instructions students may need. Among other things, you might consider how students will know when reviews are due, which actions student must take for the learning management system (LMS) to mark a review as “complete,” what tools students have access to while reviewing their peers, and whether feedback can be anonymized.
• Provide students with appropriate technology guides and resources for troubleshooting.
• Alert students to peer review activities well in advance of due dates. You might want to introduce the peer review process at the beginning of the course and post reminder announcements as due dates approach for the review.
• Consider the additional student workload that accompanies peer reviews, and plan coursework accordingly.
• Include a rubric that students will use to guide their feedback. This can support a more focused and meaningful review. Well designed rubrics can also foster an environment of inclusivity. For more on inclusive rubric use, see the Envision blog Rubrics as a Tool to Support Equity and Inclusion.

If it is possible that someone else will teach your course in the future, provide resources to help other instructors facilitate the peer review activities. These might include:

• a precise description of the peer review process, indicating how many peer reviews are included in the course, how many peer reviews a student will be expected to complete for each assignment, and if the peer review groups will be manually or automatically assigned;
• a grading rubric or guide, indicating if and how peer review feedback should be incorporated when the instructor determines the final grade for a student assignment submission.

Chong, M.R., Goff, L., & Dej, K. (2012). Undergraduate essay writing: Online and face-to-face peer reviews. From Here to the Horizon: Diversity and Inclusive Practice in Higher Education, 5, 69-74.

Knight, L.V., & Steinbach, T.A. (2011). Adapting peer review to an online course: An exploratory case study. Journal of Information Technology Education, 10, 81-100.

Wagner, S.P., & Rutherford, T. (2019). Impact of computer-based peer review on college students’ performance and perceived self-efficacy in an online graphic design course. Journal of Application Communications, 103(4), 1- 15.