FeedbackFruits Peer Review Tool

A new external Peer Review tool has been added to the MyUni ecosystem to support the development of evaluative judgement.

The Peer Review tool enables instructors to create assignments for students to provide peer feedback on deliverables. The tool structures and streamlines the process of students reviewing their peers’ work.

The tool is also supports the development of Graduate Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence: students are self-aware and reflective, they have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback in relation to a set of objective criteria.

What is evaluative judgement?

Evaluative judgement is defined as the ability to make decisions about the quality of one's own work and that of others (Links to an external site.). (Tai, et al 2018) The development of evaluative judgement is deemed to assist students to overcome the gap between their own their own work as novices and the standard that they are aiming to achieve to become effective practitioners.  

Reviewing and making evaluative judgements about the work of others is a powerful learning activity and develops skills that are highly regarded in the workplace (Tai et al, 2018).

The explicit focus upon evaluative judgement allows students to focus upon what constitutes quality in their own work. Students recognise the value of peer review, with one stating "Once I peer reviewed other's work it made it easier to criticise my own work against the rubric."  – University of Adelaide Bachelor of Animal Science student.

The FeedbackFruit Peer Review tool integrates with MyUni (Canvas) to enable instructors to allocate a diverse range of artefacts for review, including essays, reports, posters, videos, presentations and even performances, thus providing a rich assessment experiences for students.

It is possible to set up a peer review activity with timelines, instructions, and review criteria, and then track students’ progress through each stage of the task. Students can submit the task, provide de-identified feedback on their peers’ work, and then reflect on the standard of their own work, using the same criteria to make changes before final submission.

This tool enables student to develop and demonstrate:

  • the ability to bridge the gap between their own learning as a novice and the standard required to become an effective practitioner 
  • self-awareness and reflective practice 
  • evaluative judgement and the capacity to give and receive constructive feedback 
  • the ability to evaluate another’s work and their own according to a set of objective criteria

Rather than being passive recipients of feedback, explicitly incorporating peer review into course work enables students to become active agents of their own learning. However, it is important to note that use of Peer Review does not form a substitute for marking and feedback from an experienced practitioner.

Goal

The goal for the use of the Peer Review tool is to support the development of evaluative judgement. The goal is achieved by improving the ability for students to give and receive feedback by explicitly focussing on the pedagogical approach of peer review activities within courses and programs of study.

  • Principles for Peer Review Tool Use

    Pedagogy and Design for Learning

    1. Assessment designed for peer review activities will place an explicit focus on the development of evaluative judgement, enabling students to pay close attention to what constitutes quality in others’ work and how that may transfer to their own work within the immediate task and beyond.

    2. Explicit focus upon evaluative judgement is designed to enable the student to focus upon what constitutes quality in their own work.

    3. Activities and assignments delivered via the FeedbackFruits Peer Review tool will support the development of evaluative judgement and self-reflection.

    4. Assessment design will allow students to reflect upon their own work and that of their peers to provide rich, purposeful, relevant feedback to support the development of professional skills, as appropriate to different discipline contexts using FeedbackFruits Peer Review tool.

    5. Assessment tasks will provide opportunities for students to receive and implement feedback from their peers or via self-reflection using FeedbackFruits Peer Review tool.

    6. The use of the Peer Review tool is not a substitute for instructor marking and feedback.

    7. Assessment design will support students to engage more closely with objective criteria and professional standards.

    Technology and Support

    8. Teaching staff using the FeedbackFruits tools will be supported with professional development/training to ensure optimisation of the full capability of each tool.

    9. Students completing assessment using the FeedbackFruits tool/s will be provided with support resources needed to complete a task.

  • Guidelines for Peer Review Tool Use

    Pedagogy and Design for Learning

    1. Use of the tool is to be accompanied by communication of the value and importance of the giving and receiving of feedback important for learning and the development of evaluative judgement

    2. Use of the Peer Review tool should be accompanied by a set of objective criteria against which students can evaluate an artefact.

    3. Peer Review should be accompanied by orientation and induction into the provision of appropriate and constructive feedback.

    4. At the conclusion of Peer Review activities should incorporate a summary of any common issues that arose across the cohort.

    5. Peer Review should provide students with the opportunity to discuss common issues for the benefit of the learning experience.

    6. Use of the Peer Review tool should emphasise the benefits that peers can uniquely bring to the work.

    7. When providing students are providing feedback via Peer Review, the focus should be on how the work meets or does not meet the agreed standards.

Further Support

If you are interested to learn more about the FeedbackFruits tool and how it can support evaluative judgement in your own course design, book a consultation with a Learning Designer.

Refer to the MyUni Learning Centre FeedbackFruits Peer Review Guides for set up.

References 

Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2018). Developing evaluative judgement: enabling students to make decisions about the quality of work. Higher Education, 76(3):467–481.