Peer Feedback

Overview

When students provide constructive feedback on each other's work, they learn to give relevant suggestions, receive specific ways to improve their writing, and engage in Metacognition. Students should have models, checklists, or rubrics of what giving feedback should look like and/or areas to focus on so that they can frame their feedback appropriately and in a safe space. During this peer review process, students also reflect on how they conveyed concepts in their writing, and when done well, peer feedback fosters Motivation to self-correct and for students to take ownership over their work.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this high school teacher introduces the ladder of feedback as a way to give feedback on a complex project. By providing a sequential framework with specific questions, sentence stems, and success criteria, she sets clear expectations for what elements to focus their feedback on, which align to their rubric, and scaffolds the process of giving positive but constructive feedback.

Teachers can create a culture of receiving and giving feedback that inspires students to learn from each other. Setting clear expectations, modeling giving feedback, and offering some shared language guidelines can help students successfully give feedback in a constructive manner. Teachers can introduce peer feedback and critique groups as formative assessment, which also creates an additional level of learning as students get more timely feedback. Narrowing down the scope of feedback and providing areas to focus on while giving feedback such as grammar, structure, sentences, or evidence makes students less overwhelmed and anxious about giving feedback and ensures a more productive process.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

From 1:52 to 4:17 learn how Peergrade allows learners give and receive feedback effectively. Learners anonymously offer different types of feedback using a rubric set by the teacher, which allows for some objective and some open feedback questions. The feedback receivers can then go through the feedback and react to it, rating the feedback itself and offering tips for improvement. In the case of disagreement, learners can flag responses so that teachers can intervene and respond to the feedback.

Online opportunities for peer feedback can be especially effective since students can give feedback asynchronously and possibly anonymously if appropriate. Developers can create interactive spaces for collaboration by providing highlighting and annotation tools to ask clarifying questions. These collaborative platforms can allow multiple peers to give feedback on the same composition in a safe and regulated manner. Additionally, integrating tools like rubrics and checklists can also provide guidance and support.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Developing the Ability for Feedback

KQED article on developing students' ability to give and take effective feedback

Examples

Peer Critique

Edutopia video on how to create a culture of peer critique and revision

Examples

Peer Review

ReadWriteThink lesson plan for a narrative peer review

Examples

Peer Review Done Right

Edutopia tips for how to improve the peer review process