How's My Writing? Using Online Peer Feedback to Improve Performance in the Composition Classroom

Abstract

This chapter presents a case study of how online peer feedback was usedas a formative learning and assessment activity in a required, university-level composition course. The authors argue that such activities, if designedeffectively, contribute significantly toward a student’s sense of audience,authority, and empowerment as a productive member of a larger discoursecommunity. In the study, students were divided into small workgroups andshared their work by posting it on the class discussion board. They wereasked to provide feedback on specific parts of their classmates’ work.Issues such as preparing students to provide peer feedback, quality andusefulness of the peer assessment, and student attitudes toward the peerassessment process are addressed.