|
Peer Review and Forums
by Michael J. Cripps
The bulletin board forum is a great place to make peer review a
semi-public event. Publicity is wonderful because it tends to bring
out the best in all of us. Students who have to put their names
on a review tend to take the process seriously. An added benefit
of bulletin board peer review is its permanence. In the crucible
of a paper deadline, students can revisit the forum for some real
(written) guidance
I like to require students to post passages from their first drafts
to the forum, and to comment critically (and constructively) on
their peers' posted passages. The actual assignment that brings
drafting beyond the classroom walls varies with the time in the
semester, or even the particular class I'm teaching.
- Early in the semester, I'll focus on body paragraphs in the
drafts and require students to post 1 or 2 of those paragraphs,
with some discussion of how they are to fit together. I might
ask students to post their best and worst paragraphs. I'll assign
peers not in the peer revision group for that draft to respond
to those posts. A checklist is often very helpful to guide those
responses. Does the passage demonstrate appropriate use of text?
If not, what might be a better passage or example from the reading?
Is the student's voice in control of the paragraph(s)? If not,
where is the student's voice? How might the passage (or passages)
be rewritten?
- Later in the term, I'll ask students to post the introductory
paragraph and another passage of their choosing.
- When I teach 201, I like to use the forum to enable more peers
to comment on entire drafts. In 201, the papers get quite long
(10-15 pages), and it is difficult for students to effectively
review more than 1 or 2 papers in a class period. I ask students
to take home their peers' drafts and continue to evaluate the
drafts for homework. These students must post responses to the
forum.
|
