In-Person vs. Online Peer Review

The presence of technology within the classroom has been both a help and a hindrance. A help, especially during the Pandemic, allowing students to catch up on missed work or quickly research something they don’t quite understand, also a hindrance as it can be distracting during class time. However, my goal isn’t to study technology only within the classroom, but within peer review groups or partnerships specifically. Does it benefit the writers and readers to do it in person, or to just leave virtual comments on each other's papers? How does anonymity effect peer review? What are the shortcomings of these different approaches? 

In-Person Peer Review

In my experience, I’ve only ever done in-person peer reviews. We may have time to look over the person’s paper the day before and come prepared with comments in class, but I don’t believe I’ve ever just been assigned to simply leave a certain amount of comments on a peer’s paper and never talk to them about it. 

One advantage of in-person peer review is that it gets writers to see it as an essential part of the writing process: as you discuss with a partner, you can bounce ideas off of each other, ask and clarify specific parts, and help one another work out wonky sections. The goal of Peer Review is not for a student to just leave a few comments on another person’s paper: it’s to build community, to go through the process of writing with another writer, to see insights from others, and, finally, to improve their own writing. 

Image from Readingrockets.com

Online Peer Review

Unlike online peer review, in person peer review doesn’t offer the option of anonymity. Students know who their reviewer is, who read their paper in what is often a vulnerable time, who looked for their mistakes. As Schoology Exchange points out in their article about in-class peer review, “Pointing out grammar mistakes is not a great way to make friends”. An in-person peer review could make or break your classroom environment - it really just depends on the class’s dynamic.

Additionally, online peer review appears to be a process that students understand just as well, if not more, than the in-person peer review process. Ruie Jane Pritchard and Donna Morrow, both professors and learning science advocates, conducted a study on this exact topic - do students do well in person or doing online peer review? They found that “The initial survey about participants’ comfort and ease with using technology revealed that all members of the course were comfortable”. Online peer review compensated for the anxious kids who can’t stand telling others what they could improve on, presenting it in a mode that they are extremely familiar with. 

Image from Elsevier

However, I have seen how some classrooms don't do well with anonymity. Susana Carvalho remarks in her article "Anonymous Peer Review: Truth or Trolling?" that, "In some cases, these can have devastating effects on early careers and hit hard at fragile self-esteem. As with trolling in social media, anonymity in peer review is sometimes used to say those things that would never be said if reviewers had to reveal their identity." While it may seem like a good idea to give students anonymity so that they don't feel personally attacked when receiving comments on their work, the opposite sometimes happens. 

Image from the University of Oklahoma

Online peer review doesn't always have to be anonymous, and linking a student's identity to their comments may help prevent potential problems. Purdue Owl says on the subject of remote (online) peer review that, "Whatever strategy you choose to use, you should ensure that all student work is visible to you, whether in the learning management system as text comments or file attachments or in the form of cloud-saved documents shared with you as well as with their partners. Even if you're not grading feedback, you may need access to these documents later in case students have a dispute." In my opinion, a student should have ownership over their comments - that way, they feel more responsible for what they write. 

One other thing to keep in mind is that online peer review doesn’t build community the same way that in-person peer review does. And, in my opinion, it takes peer review out of context of the writing process - it’s just another assignment to get done to students as they don’t have the ability to bounce ideas off of an anonymous partner. 

Image from Hogan Hayes

Conclusion

Overall, there are pros and cons to in-person and online peer review. Much like any other aspect of peer review that I’ve discussed on this blog, it truly depends on the class. What works best for the students - an online experience, or in person? Think about what the current classroom climate is - do you believe students will benefit from anonymous comments, or will that leave a space open for students to say things they normally wouldn't say? There are pros and cons to each, but depending on the students’ strengths and needs, one will work better than the other.