Dr. Shawn Ross, School of History and Philosophy

Peer review improves student writing and teaches valuable skills related to critical assessment of others’ and one’s own work. In an environment where staff are encouraged to “assess efficiently”, peer review also has the potential to replace some instructor marking. Effective peer review, however, requires an effective but easy-to-use platform to manage logistics (e.g., anonymising submissions, distribution of the assignment to be reviewed and the reviews themselves) and provision of adequate support material for students (e.g., instructions, rubrics for assessment, exemplars).

PeerMark, a component of TurnItIn integrated with Blackboard, provides an accessible yet robust platform for peer review, one that provides necessary features without excessive complexity. In this interactive seminar, Dr Ross (School of History and Philosophy) will demonstrate the use of PeerMark, and discuss some of the components of successful peer review, using examples involving a range of History and Archaeology assignments and paper writer drawn from courses of various levels and sizes. Time will be set aside for discussion of the pros and cons of peer review, peer review vs. peer marking, and ideas for implementation.