A peer review assignment or discussion enables students to provide feedback on another student's submission. Peer reviews allow communication between students and can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Peer reviews can be assigned to show student names or display anonymously.
Note: Students can only view peer review assignments or discussions after they have submitted their own work for the assignment or replied to the discussion themselves.
When Would I Use Peer Reviews?
Student peer review assignments and discussions can:
- Help students develop critical thinking skills by evaluating and providing feedback on their peers' work.
- Enhance understanding of the subject matter.
- Improve communication skills.
- Promote a collaborative learning environment.
- Teach students to give and receive constructive criticism.
Instructors can learn about creating a peer review assignment or creating a peer review discussion.
Performing Peer Reviews
After submitting their own work, students can submit a peer review. The student whose work was reviewed can then view their peer’s feedback.
Anonymous Peer Reviews
As part of creating a peer review, the anonymous option allows you to hide the name of the student reviewer from the student with the submission. The reviewer cannot see the name of the assigned person whose work is to be reviewed, and the student who submitted the assignment cannot view names associated with any comments.
Creating an anonymous peer review can reduce bias, encourage honest feedback, promote fairness, minimize pressure, and focus on learning.
Notes:
- Email notifications sent to students about peer reviews are anonymous. Student reviewers cannot view the name of the person whose work they are reviewing.
- Once a peer review has been assigned, the viewing setting cannot be changed. For instance, a regular peer review cannot later be made anonymous—and appear anonymous—unless the peer review is deleted and re-assigned.
- Canvas DocViewer does not support anonymous comments, so it cannot be used for annotated feedback on assignments with anonymous peer reviews.
- When anonymous peer reviews are enabled, instructors and TAs can still view the names of student reviewers in SpeedGrader and in the student submission page. However, if anonymous grading is enabled in SpeedGrader, the names of both students will be hidden in SpeedGrader but not in the student submission page.
