Student-Led Peer Review

“Distinguished by its depth and breadth of coverage, Student-Led Peer Review: A Practical Guide for Online and F2F College Courses takes a deep exploratory dive into the range of factors faculty need to address to effectively design and implement student-led formative review processes that are educationally beneficial both to peer reviewers themselves and to fellow students who receive those reviews in face-to-face and online courses. Drawing on research on peer-led review, on faculty and student criticisms of or reluctance to engage in peer-led review processes, and on authors’ own IRB-approved research on designing, integrating and conducting cross-disciplinary research on peer led reviews, Lowe, Cummins, Clark, Porter, and Spitz have developed a much needed exemplary practical guide to the principles, strategies, and steps that underlie the design, integration, and preparation of students to engage effectively in peer-led reviews.

I laud Lowe, Cummins, Clark, Porter, and Spitz’s comprehensive exploration of what it realistically takes to support and promote a commitment to peer review that, in turn, leads to students’ development of enduring capabilities. To those who may aim to write about the design and implementation of other educational practices, let this practical guide serve as an exemplary model: it is grounded in research; it recognizes the range of challenges those who implement a practice need to address both in teaching and learning; it identifies specific strategies and steps to addresses those challenges—particularly for our student demographics and the contexts within which they learn; and it identifies strategies to build a longitudinal and shared commitment to students’ attainment of the desired outcomes of a practice. Bravo, Authors.”

- From the Foreword, Peggy L. Maki

"This book offers a research-based, practitioner-focused approach to using peer review in the classroom. The authors do a masterful job of anticipating the challenges of student peer review and describing the considerable benefits that accrue when students are asked to take responsibility, think critically and gain agency. The book is an excellent resource for teachers, as it provides strong rationale for encouraging peer review and compelling ideas for designing instruction and environments that foster student growth in this vital area. Highly recommended!"

Peter Afflerbach, University of Maryland

Foreword—Peggy Maki

Acknowledgments

Introduction: What I Hear Peer Review, I Think…

1: Research on Peer Review: Benefits, Challenges, and Best Practices

2: Pre-Peer Review: Preparing Students to Engage in Peer Review

3: Peer Review: Facilitating Students to Exchange Feedback

4: Post-Peer Review: Guiding Students to Use Feedback

5: Incorporating the Three-Part Protocol Into Your Course

6: Fostering a Shared Culture of Peer Review Beyond Your Course

Appendix A: Three-Part Protocol for Effective Peer Review

Appendix B: Case Studies

Appendix C: Guide to Peer Review Tools

References

About the Authors

Index

Kimberly A. Lowe

Kimberly Lowe is a historian with a Ph.D. in History from Yale University. Her historical publications focus on the history of humanitarian organizations and international humanitarian law during the twentieth century. Lowe joined the peer review research team in 2016 and served as a principal investigator from 2018-2019 alongside Lisa Spitz. She uses peer review with undergraduate First Year Seminar students practicing public speaking skills and history students practicing analytic writing, in online and face-to-face modalities.

Liv Cummins

Liv Cummins is musical theater dramatist who earned an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her musicals focus on historical women characters and have been produced at professional and university venues internationally and across the United States. Cummins initiated the peer review research team in 2016, served as principal investigator from 2016-2018, and co-authored an article about the team’s cross-disciplinary pilot of a peer feedback software tool. She incorporates feedback strategies in all her courses, including drama, literature, playwriting, screenwriting, and composition, in online and face-to-face modalities.

Summer Ray Clark

Summer Clark is a specialist in literacy education and fostering equity in the classroom with a Ph.D. from University of Maryland, College Park. Ignited by her K-12 teaching experiences in Mississippi, Atlanta, Morocco, and Washington, DC, she is committed to teacher education for social justice. Her recent publications focus on critical literacy, student agency, and children’s literature. A member of the peer review research team since 2016, she has been using peer review techniques for over fourteen years in her undergraduate and graduate education courses, in online and face-to-face modalities.

Bill Porter

Bill Porter has nineteen years of experience in the field of academic technology and instructional design and joined the peer review research team in 2018. As a Learning Technology Designer in the eLearning and Instructional Support Department he conducts research on methods and tools for peer feedback. Porter is a multidisciplinary visual artist who has exhibited nationally and holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley Art + Design. As an Adjunct Professor in LA+D’s Animation and Motion Media Department since 2015, he incorporates peer feedback in all his face-to-face, hybrid and online courses.

Lisa Spitz

Lisa Spitz is a User Experience Designer with over fifteen years of experience designing for financial service, education technology, business-to-business, and business-to-client businesses and non-profits. As Assistant Professor of Design at Lesley University From 2016-2021, she launched an online Bachelor of Science program in Design for User Experience. Her online and face-to-face design courses all incorporated student-led feedback processes as a primary tool for teaching students how to research and design complex customer experiences. She served as the principal investigator for the peer review research team from 2018-2019, alongside Kimberly Lowe.