Choosing a Peer Review Platform

by Kelley Calvert

Please visit this document for an accessible version of this article.

Note: Done well, peer assessment can remove the emphasis on grades and refocus energy on learning, shifting the instructor role from grading extensively to facilitating and coaching writing processes. In this post, I uphold the value of peer assessment as a point of departure and do not further debate the merits or shortcomings of this pedagogical approach. For more thinking on this debate, I encourage folks to check out the Headagogy podcast, particularly the episodes on ungrading and peer assessment linked here.

Once, in a time not-so-long ago, students schlepped to class, backpacks heavy with paper copies of their most recent essays, made notes on paper, scribbled in each other’s margins, and commented on the instructor’s questions. As a student, I always wondered how the instructor measured the quality of our feedback to one another and assessed how well we incorporated each other’s reviews–did they ever really look at those hundreds of papers piled on their desks?

Today’s digital equivalents of paper peer review include Canvas, Eduflow, Eli Review, and Peerceptiv, all of which permit greater efficiency and efficacy in responding to writing. These platforms allow multiple (often anonymous) peer reviewers, give writers an opportunity to rate feedback, and provide instructors with dashboard insights into student writing and feedback. As a result, instructors’ questions about peer assessment today differ substantially from years past, often boiling down to choice: How do we decide on a digital platform?

Considerations

An instructor might think about several issues when selecting a peer assessment platform, including supported assignment types (documents, audio, video), cost, data privacy, user options, functionality, and review types (anonymous, random, manual). Depending on one’s context, these criteria might take on varying degrees of importance, but generally speaking, the most important criteria seem to be functionality and cost. With this in mind, the chart below provides insights into the four most-widely used platforms on campus: Canvas, EduFlow, Peerceptiv, and Eli Review.

Platform

Cost

Functionality

Review Type

Canvas Free Allows students to give and receive feedback using rubric Anonymous or Known
EduFlow Free up to 15 students or $20 a month up to 100 ⦁       Includes self-review function

⦁       Allows rating of peer reviews

⦁       Includes instructor analytics

Anonymous or Known
Peerceptiv $15 a month payable by student, instructor, or institution ⦁       Focuses on data and assessment

⦁       Generates grade through peer review

⦁       Allows rating of peer reviews

Anonymous
Eli Review Starts at $12.50 a month for students ⦁       Focuses on entire writing process

⦁       Provides online instruction

⦁       Includes instructor analytics

Anonymous or known

Platforms

Canvas offers instructors a free means of assigning peer reviews manually or automatically. Instructors can include a rubric and/or require comments in the review. Canvas allows TA access and allows both anonymous and known peer review. Canvas offers a great number of benefits, but compared to other options, it may be somewhat limited as other options provide stronger instructor analytics and scaffold students’ writing process.

EduFlow enables anonymous peer review assigned manually or automatically while also providing the teacher access to analytical data about student writing. If the instructor has “organization” as a criterion in the rubric, and this area consistently receives low ratings, they may decide to spend additional class time discussing how to structure the writing project. This platform also allows students to hold their peer reviewers accountable through ratings of their commentary.

Peerceptiv, similar to EduFlow, provides instructor analytics and student reviews of feedback. Students review one another’s writing anonymously in Peerceptiv. the platform then generates grades using automated grading algorithms. While some may feel uncomfortable with this idea, Peerceptiv holds that these scores are as accurate as traditional instructor grading, allowing for more efficient instruction.

Eli Review in comparison to Perceptive, focuses more on the learning process itself. Including instructional units on revision for instructors and students, Eli Review engages all members of the classroom in the learning process. It creates an environment for students that encourages debriefing, modeling of drafts and feedback, and creating/responding to revision plans. It does not generate grades but serves more as a “laboratory” for practice.

Ultimately, there is no perfect solution and one’s choice of platform might rest heavily on their purpose for seeking one. I find myself drawn to Eli Review due to its focus on the iterative nature of the writing process, but I’m also interested in Peerceptiv in the context of larger classes and Eduflow for its support of a variety of assignment types. Have you used any of these platforms? If so, please comment and share your thoughts.

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