Peer Review of Writing Online

Activity Description:

1. Prepare the students to participate in peer review by discussing their questions about peer review and its benefits. Use an online poll, such as Mentimeter, to ask, “How do you feel about another student reading your draft writing now?”, “What are the potential benefits of receiving feedback from another student?” & “Do you have any problems or questions about receiving feedback from another student?”. Highlight the benefits of peer review, including; sharing new ideas, spotting mistakes, encouragement, feedback from peers is less intimidating, becoming aware of class level, and writing for an audience.   Problems can also be noted on an online whiteboard and countered.
2.  Introduce the peer review questions and concept check.  Peer review questions should be both specific and allow more open answers. For example, see attached ‘Peer Review Questions’.
3.  The mechanics of giving the peer review and the content of the peer review should be clearly modeled.  Give students time to read an example draft writing text.   Demonstrate the method of cutting and pasting Peer Review Questions to the discussion board or collaborative document.  Then complete an example peer review.  Check to understand and discuss the given review.
4.  Put the students into small groups in breakout rooms. Share the example text and the Peer Review Questions with the breakout rooms. The small groups should work together on a peer review of the example draft writing. This should then be added to the discussion board or collaborative document. The peer reviews given by the small groups can then be checked and discussed as a class.
5.  Assign pairs for peer review within the class. An out-of-class assignment should then be given for the students to peer review the other student’s draft writing piece. The peer review should be completed within a timely manner, i.e., within 1 week or by the next class.
6.  Once the review has been given, the review should be discussed in class between the reviewer and the writer. This can be done online by creating breakout groups for each peer review pair to meet in. Clarification questions can be used to guide the discussion (see the attached Post Peer Review Clarification Questions).
7.  After time has been given to discuss in pairs, return to the whole class to share what has been learned. Discussing what the reviewers liked in writing is a positive discussion point. 
8.  Elicit and board the stages in the writing process; Analyse, plan, draft, review, and revise. Elicit the potential elements of revision – structure (thesis, conclusion, transitional language…), content (main points, explanation), and language (spelling, word forms, sentence structure). Students should then reflect on the revision points suggested by the peer review, discuss them in small groups and add them to a collaborative document. For example, suggested revision points can be posted to Padlet – using the title “What revision changes will you make to your writing?” and the revision headings; structure, language, and content. Then review the Padlet with the whole class.
9.  Set students the task to write the revised writing piece as an out-of-class assignment.