Peer Review in Canvas - Transcript

This Microcpd is about using Canvas to enable anonymous peer review. The example is summative assessment of lab reports written by second year students studying electrical engineering. Although students write lab reports individually, they do collaborate within the lab. I wanted to extend that social learning and raise understanding about what a high quality piece of work looks like.

I adapted a published marking scheme for lab reports with quantitative ratings 1-4 from novice to expert, with examples of what each category meant. I set up a self-assessment for every student, scored in the same way, and had my own assessment.

I was impressed at how detailed and informative the students’ comments were, critical in a constructive way. Comparing the peer marks and comments with my own, I found a close match. We had a shared understanding of the marking scheme. Students were prepared to take time to analyse the work, making suggestions to enable improvement. The correlation in marks was not so strong with the self-assessment.

It would interesting to investigate whether this approach helps students with the next similar assessment more than other forms of feedback, and whether a formative assessment would produce different outcomes. While we don’t have to use Canvas, it is very convenient in ensuring an anonymous and consistent process.