Peer Feedback on Student Writing

Objective: By utilizing peer feedback of student writing, students are able to receive more feedback than if they were only receiving feedback from the instructor alone. Moreover, they will benefit from seeing examples of their peers’ writing and by having to articulate what they feel is and is not successful about the writing that they themselves are evaluating. 

Key Terms: Feedback. Mathematical Correctness. Clarify of Exposition. Notation. Terminology. 

Timing: The timing of these lessons depends on the content and nature of the course. For example, if they are being utilized for peer feedback on proof writing in a course where students are learning to write proofs for the first time, then they are best used a few weeks into the semester, once students have had some time to get used to the notions of proof and proof writing. 

Lesson

Part I: Peer feedback for portfolios. This example is for a course where each student creates a portfolio of their work throughout the semester, and where students receive regular peer feedback on their portfolio. 

1. At the beginning of the semester, discuss the nature of the portfolio structure you will be using throughout the semester with your students, and make sure this is reflected in your syllabus. See, for example, this Discrete Math Syllabus, created by Debbie Borkovitz..
2. Put the students into groups that they will work with throughout the entire semester. 
3. Provide the students with a date by which they must have an early version of their portfolio ready to share with their group. For example, you could modify this Portfolio Update 1, which was created by Debbie Borkovitz for MA 293, to suit your personal preferences and the context of your course. You can even provide them with a specific template, such as this template, created by Debbie Borkovitz. 
4. Provide the students with a framework for giving each other feedback on their portfolio, such as this framework, created by Debbie Borkovitz. This framework assumes the peer feedback will happen during class time, but it could also be done outside of class time. 
5. Repeat the above several times throughout the semester, so as to provide students with an overall path to preparing their final portfolio, which they will submit to you at the end of the semester. 

Part II: This example is for a proof-based course where students periodically select some of their proofs from their homework problems, revise them, and submit them as “final drafts” that are meant to represent their best work. It assumes there are regular, eg weekly, homework assignments given during the course. 

1. At the beginning of the semester, discuss with your students the nature of the revision structure you will be using, and make sure this is reflected in your syllabus. See, for example, this Analysis syllabus, created by Margaret Beck.  
2. For each HW assignment, list a selection of problems that are available for revision and submission as final drafts. These could be, for example, problems that are proof-based, as opposed to problems that are more focused on examples or computations. Explain to the students how the final drafts will be assessed. For example, in the analysis course that corresponds to the above syllabus, this rubric was used for assessing the proofs as either “achieved” or “not yet achieved”. 
3. Put the students into groups of 2-3 students. Provide the students with a framework, such as this one created by Margaret Beck, to use to provide feedback to each on the drafts of their proofs. You can consider suggesting that they use a rubric, such as this one created by Margaret Beck, to help frame their feedback. Note that this rubric separately addresses mathematical correctness and clarity of writing.
4. If the students will be submitting multiple final draft proofs throughout the semester, consider doing this multiple times. This can be particularly helpful if you have many students taking their first course that involves proof writing, because many of them will give better peer feedback as they become more comfortable with proofs.