How do I submit a peer review to an assignment?

Your instructor may require you to submit a peer review of another student's assignment. To complete the assignment, you must review the student's assignment and add a comment in the comment sidebar.

If your instructor includes a rubric, which is a pre-determined outline of how an assignment is graded, you must assign a grade using the rubric. However, your instructor may also ask you to leave a comment in the comment sidebar.

Some peer reviews may also be anonymous, which means you cannot view the name of the student whose assignment you are reviewing. Additionally, the student cannot see your name as the reviewer when you leave a comment to complete the review.  

Notes:

  • You can only complete peer reviews in the web version of Canvas.
  • You need to submit your assignment first to access your assigned peer reviews.
  • If what you see in Canvas differs from the images show in this lesson, your institution may be using the feature preview Assignment Enhancements - Student. You can learn how to submit a peer review to an assignment using Assignment Enhancements as a student.

Open Assignments

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.

Note: You can also access your Assignments through your user or course dashboard, the Syllabus, Gradebook, Calendar, or Modules.

Open Assignment

In the Assignment Index page, you can view any peer reviews assigned to you. To open the peer review, click the Required Peer Review link [1].

You can see the name of students whose assignments you are reviewing [2]. If your peer review is anonymous, the student's name displays as Anonymous Student.

Note: If your instructor has assigned an On Paper or No Submission assignment, the assigned peer review does not display on this page. However, you can still view it from the Dashboard. Learn more about viewing peer review assignments.

Open Assigned Peer Review

Open Assigned Peer Review

Under Assigned Peer Reviews, you can see any peer reviews assigned to you. Click the name of the assigned peer whose work you will be reviewing. The caution sign icon indicates the peer review has not been completed [1]. A checkmark icon indicates that you have completed the peer review [2].

Open Anonymous Peer Reviews

Open Anonymous Peer Reviews

If your peer review is anonymous, you cannot see the name of the student. The name of the student will also not be shown anywhere in the assignment.

View Peer Review

To download the assignment, click the name of the assignment [1]. To preview the submission, click the View Feedback link [2].

Create Annotated Feedback

If the assignment supports annotated feedback, the Preview button will display as View Feedback.

To open the document with Canvas DocViewer, click the View Feedback link [1]. You can add comments directly to the submission through DocViewer [2].

You can leave direct feedback on the assignment using DocViewer, but you cannot view any existing feedback submitted by another student or the instructor.

Note: In anonymous peer reviews, you cannot leave comments in DocViewer.

Complete Rubric

If the assignment has a rubric attached, you are only required to complete the attached rubric for the peer review to be considered finished.

To view the rubric, click the Show Rubric link [1].

To score the assignment with the rubric, select rubric ratings [2] or enter a score for each criterion in the Points column [3]. To deselect a rubric rating, click the rubric rating [4].

Each criterion score will create the total points for the assignment [5].

When you're finished, click the Save Comment button [6]. You may need to refresh your browser to see that you've completed the required steps for the peer review.

Notes:

  • Depending on how your instructor set up the rubric, it may or may not include point values. If the rubric does not include point values you will still need to fill out the rubric to complete the peer review.
  • After you save the rubric, you cannot edit it to change your comments or ratings.

Add Assignment Comment

If your assignment does not include a rubric, you are required to add at least one comment. You cannot view any existing feedback submitted by another student or the instructor.

Type a comment in the comment field [1], leave a media comment [2], or attach a file [3]. Click the Save button [4].

Note: When an assignment is muted, you can view peer review comments. However, instructor comments are hidden until after the assignment is unmuted.