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Peer Review: For Teachers
Peer Review: For Teachers

This article is a step by step guide for teachers on using our Peer Review tool, with all information any teacher needs to get started.

Updated over a week ago

Introduction

In this article we will walk you through how to use Peer Review from the perspective of a teacher.

If you’d like more information on how this tool works, you can check out the overview article here:

Depending on whether you are creating an assignment from scratch or copying an old assignment/from a template, you will see a different view of the tool - we are rolling out a new and updated user interface as of April 19th, 2024 for all newly created assignments from scratch. From June 24th, 2024 this will also apply to all assignments created by copying another assignment or from an existing template.

Where the interface for the new version of the tool differs, you can click the toggle button

() to show the image for this tool version.

You can read more about this update here:

Tool In Action

Overall student progress

At the top of the assignment, you will see the Overall student progress overview. Click on statistics per active student to see individual students' progress. Here you can see if students have read the instructions, given feedback, the total number of review comments, and finally, if students have read the feedback they received.

Click on the headers in each column to change the order (ascending or descending) in which students are displayed.

Fig. 1: Overall student progress: Active assignment


Click on the headers in each column to change the order (ascending or descending) in which students are displayed. You can also click Fullscreen to pop out the full display of student progress.

Fig. 2: Full screen statistics per active student analytics

The check marks under read instructions and submissions mean that the student has finished the step. The light green dot means the student has not read the instructions or submitted his file yet. If you see a red dot, this means the student has missed the deadline for handing in.

Under the Given Reviews and Received Reviews headers, you will find the completion status of each review for each student. If a student has completed the module, it will display ✔ Completed instead of a percentage.

It is also possible to export all the student data into an excel file. This file contains information concerning review ratings, review comments and grading. You can download this export by clicking on the EXPORT ANALYTICS button in the overall student progress window.

Step 1: Instructions

Here you can see the instructions written when setting up the assignment. These can be changed by clicking on edit on the top right corner of the screen.

Image showing an example of instructions set by a teacher for their students.

Collaboration Options:

Directly underneath the instructions, you can select options for student collaboration.

Image showing the student collaboration section - there are two fields, group assignment and groups selected to participate. There's a button to change the group assignments and to select groups to participate in the assignment.

When selecting student collaboration options, there are several configurations to choose from. Please bear in mind that collaboration options need to be selected before students participate in the assignment - once a student makes progress, the configurations can't be updated.

Image showing the available collaboration options. Under the heading students hand in, the options individually or as a group are listed. Under the heading students evaluate, the options individually, within groups, outside of their group or as a group are listed.

Options for students hand in:

  1. Individually

  2. As a group

Options for students evaluate:

  1. Individually. Students will individually get assigned to anyone.

  2. Within groups. Students individually get assigned someone within their group. (Disabled if ‘as a group’ option for hand in is chosen).

  3. Outside of their group. Students individually get assigned to someone, not in their group. (Disabled if ‘as a group’ option for hand in is chosen).

  4. As a group. All members of a group get assigned the same work. (Disabled if ‘individually’ option for hand in is chosen).

This will allow for the following combinations:

  1. Hand in work individually, review individually
    Use this option if you want your students to individually hand in their assignment and then be assigned the work of one or more random peers who have also handed in work for this assignment.

    1. Use case: In a class of 20 students, all students are required to submit 2 documents. Each student will receive 2 submissions from (an)other student(s) to review.

  2. Hand in work individually, review within groups
    Use this option if you want your students to individually hand in their assignment and want to use smaller groups to distribute the reviews.

    1. Use case: you have a class of 20 students and split them into 5 groups. Each group is assigned a topic to write a report on - one topic per group. Within the group of 4 people, each person individually submits their reports. At the point of review, each person in the group is assigned someone else in their group to review.

  3. Hand in work individually, review outside of their groups

    Use this option if you want students to individually hand in their assignments and get assigned to review the work of one or more peers outside their own group.

    1. Use case: In a class of 4 groups with 5 students each, each group is assigned a topic to write a report on. Each of the 5 students within the group create their own report individually. When being assigned work to provide feedback on, each student is given a report written by a student from a different group.

  4. Hand in work as group, review individually
    Use this option if you would like a group of students to work collaboratively on the same assignment.

    1. Use case: Students work in 5 groups of 4 on the assignment. Each group submits their assignment as a collective (1 assignment submission per group). All 20 students receive a random allocation from other groups to review.

  5. Hand in work as group, discuss as a group

    Use this option if you want students to hand in their submission as a group, and if all group members should be assigned to the same work to review.

    1. Use case: You have 5 groups - each group has 4 students. All 4 group members collaborate on their initial submission and submit 1 assignment collectively. When receiving work to review, each group of 4 receives one allocation. They collectively discuss and submit their feedback.

For more information on configuring groups when using FeedbackFruits within Blackboard, Brightspace or Canvas, click here. If it's not possible to sync the groups within your LMS or if you are using the platform, you can find more information about how to create groups here.

Step 2: Submissions

Submission Options: Setting Up

When creating your assignment, you can configure submission options for your students.

Required number of files to hand in: Set the amount of files that students are required to hand in. Note that students' will not be assigned to a peer for review if they submit fewer files than required. The submission requirement can be set at exactly, minimum or between your chosen amount. Students can always hand in more files than required. In the example given in the screenshot, you would set this to 2: they hand in a word doc and slides.

Scheduling deadlines: Set the hand-in deadline. Students have to upload their work before this deadline. When this deadline has passed, students will be assigned work of a peer or group to review. When no deadline is set in this step, students are assigned work to review when 2 students have handed in. Click here for an explanation about how peers are assigned. When not setting a deadline there is a chance that the allocations cannot be distributed equally, therefore setting no deadline works best in a 'live' feedback session.

If a deadline for submission has been set for the students, you have the option to allow for students to hand in after the submission deadline has passed. Simply enable this option (as shown on the screenshot below), and students will be able to hand in after the submission deadline as well. Keep in mind that enabling this option will not affect the student analytics - you will still be able to see if students have submitted on time or not.

File requirements: Check the box next to the file type you want your students to hand in. Students will not be able to upload file types to you deselect. For an overview of which formats are supported for each file type, click here.

Please note that embedded audio and video in documents and slideshows cannot be played in FeedbackFruits.

Plagiarism check: If your institution has opted into our Turnitin integration, you can select here whether the check should be toggled on or off.

You can read more information here: Turnitin FAQ

Anonymity: The students who review the assignments won't be able to know the name of the peer they are reviewing.

Guiding students (optional): If you have specific hand-in instructions for your students (such as the desired font, line spacing, naming the file, etc.) fill them in here. Example: Please name your student number in the file-name. Upload both your essay and the slides you will use when presenting about your essay.

Submissions: Active Assignment

Once the assignment has been set up, this step provides an overview of the students' submitted work, and which students have not submitted their work.

Image showing the submissions module with the participant overview - 4 users are displayed along with whether or not they completed the assignment and a button to access their uploaded files.

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Image showing the submission overview screen - all students have completed their submissions. The progress bar shows 6 submissions completed.

The students' submissions can also be viewed in the assignment itself. By clicking on the file in the files handed in column in the row for the student's name, you can see which files they have submitted. Click on view to view the submitted work.

Note: If the student has submitted a video, you will see the video player instead of the document.

Image of the pop up shown when a teacher clicks view within a student’s assignment to see their handed in homework.

Submissions: Task Overview

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Students who have submitted their work can see whether they submitted it late or on time. Instructors may adjust the deadline or grant individual student’s extensions using the Grant Extension and Change Deadline buttons. In the settings, the deadline can be moved or late hand-in allowed.

All submitted files can be downloaded by clicking the download icon in step 2. The submissions are in a zip file, the files in this zip file have a name in the format [First name Last name Student] Original file name.

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Browse Submissions

View Submissions navigates you to the submissions playlist, where you can start viewing student’s submissions packets. The reviews at this step show the deliverable submitted by the student.

Please note: if you are using the earliest version of our tool, you will not see a view submissions button. In this case, you can click on the name of individual students in order to view their submissions.

Selecting Open on the line item will direct you to the deliverable. Please note that this action will not allow you to access the feedback given or received on the artefact. To access this feedback, follow the next two steps outlined below.

Note: If the student has submitted a video, you will see the video player instead of the document.

Step 3: Given Reviews

Given Reviews: Setting Up

In this step, you can specify criteria to help guide students as they give feedback. Click configure to edit, add, or delete criteria. Click here for a detailed guide on setting criteria.

Required number of peers to review: Specify how many peers/groups each student has to review. Reviewing multiple peers is good practice, giving students a broader view of how their peers did in the assignment. At the same time, it means that students get reviewed by several peers, giving a better, more nuanced view of their own efforts.

Self-assessment: Students are able to review their own work before reviewing their peers.

Scheduling deadlines: Set the deadline for giving feedback. Note that reviewers will not be able to view or edit their reviews after this deadline passes. Leave the deadline blank to allow reviewers to view and/or edit their feedback indefinitely.

Allocations: By clicking change you will be able to select your preferred method of allocation. If you set this to all, students will have to review everybody in their group - it's important to be mindful of the student workload when using this setting.

Automatically - One by one: The students will be assigned a review one by one, the second review will appear after starting the first one, and so on. This is the default and recommended method of allocation.

Automatically - All at once: Only available if the amount of required reviews is set higher than 1. With this allocation option, students will be assigned all the reviews they'll have to complete at once. The advantage of this is that students will see all their peers at once. The disadvantage is that it allows for less flexibility, i.e. if students only complete 1 review, the others can no longer be assigned to.

Anonymity Enabling this option will make reviewers anonymous. Reviewers will still see the name of the peer they are reviewing. Teachers can also see the name of the reviewer.

Visibility Choose when the students can see their feedback. You can set this to instantly, after release date, a certain date or never.

Guiding students (optional) If you have specific hand-in instructions for your students (such as the desired font, line spacing, naming the file, etc.) fill them in here. Example: Please name your student number in the file-name. Upload both your essay and the slides you will use when presenting about your essay.

Given Reviews: Active Assignment

In an active assignment in this step, you can access an overview of all provided feedback. The reviews in this step display the feedback provided by the student.

Note: if you are using the earliest version of our tool, you will not see a view reviews button. In this case, you can click on the name of individual students in order to view their reviews.

Given Reviews: Task Overview

Students who have begun giving feedback on their peer’s submissions will reflected in this step. Clicking on the headers will change the order (ascending or descending) in which the students are shown.

Image showing 4 students who are participating in giving reviews - their review progress, average review rating, time spent on reviews and comments are also shown.

Underneath the Given Reviews header, you have 3 buttons - view reviews, show allocations, show ratings and full screen. We will cover view reviews in more detail in the next step.

Show Allocations displays the work assigned to the student for review. If you've chosen a collaboration option other than hand in individually you will also see your chosen collaboration option here.

Show ratings presents a heatmap displaying the assessments given by the students. If you have added a self-assessment step, you will also see a button to access this next to the given reviews header at the top of the table.

Full screen offers a wider display for easier view. You may also leverage the Search capabilities to search for individual students.

View Reviews

The reviews in this step display the feedback provided by the student. View Reviews navigates you to the given reviews playlist, where you can start viewing individual review packets. You may also navigate to a specific student review by hovering over the student’s name in the table below.

Note: if you are using the earliest version of our tool, you will not see a view reviews button. In this case, you can click on the name of individual students in order to view their reviews.

Show feedback given to filter defaults to All Reviewers. This provides a consolidated view of all feedback given by Saul Goodman, enabling you to review all his feedback swiftly without navigating multiple sections.

When navigating the Feedback section of the All Reviewers packet, you can hover over the ratings to view the two peers to whom the student assigned that rating. Additionally, New buttons indicate unread comments.

You may use the dropdown menu to filter by individual packets. For instance, if you click on Skylar White, you will see the review packet that Saul Goodman provided to Skylar White. The Submissions section contain all deliverables from the different peers that the student has given reviews to.

Selecting Open on the line item will take you to the deliverable that has received feedback. Here, Skylar White has provided feedback on Walter White's deliverable. The submitter's name is highlighted in the purple appbar. Refer to the sidebar to review the feedback from Skylar White to Walter White.

To navigate to the next student, click on the back arrow in the purple app bar, and you will be presented with the playlist again. Click Next to move on to the next student.

Step 4: Received Reviews

Received Reviews: Setting Up

In this step, you can toggle whether or not students rate their reviewer feedback (also known as feedback on feedback) and set a deadline by when the student should have read all of their received reviews.

Received Reviews: Active Assignment

In this step, you can view an overview of all feedback received. The reviews in this step display the feedback received by the student.

Note: if you are using the earliest version of our tool, you will not see a view reviews button. In this case, you can click on the progression circles of individual students in order to view their reviews.

Received Reviews: Task Overview

Click on the column headings to reverse the order in which the students are shown (ascending or descending).

The overview also shows how many comments the student has read and when the student was last active.

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Image showing the received reviews overview - the reviewers are displayed alongside their review progress, average review rating, time spent on reviews and number of comments left.

Click on the status chips Not started or Completed to view the list of students with those respective statuses.

Browse Received Reviews

The reviews in this step display the feedback received by the student. Clicking on View Reviews takes you to the workflow playlist, where you can start viewing student review packets. The reviews at this step show the feedback received by the student.

The Show feedback given by filter defaults to All Reviewees. This provides a consolidated view of all feedback received by a student, enabling you to review all his feedback swiftly without navigating multiple sections.

You may use the dropdown menu to filter by individual review packets. For instance, if you click on Walter White, you will see the review packet that Jesse Pinkman received from Walter White.

Click on the Next button to navigate between students who have received reviews.

Review, respond or upvote:

You may view ratings and comments view the review packet or the side bar. It is possible to respond to these comments or upvote them.

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Add yourself as a reviewer

To add yourself as a reviewer while reviewing the feedback a student has received from their peer, simply click on the purple icon located at the bottom right of your screen.

Upon clicking the purple icon, you'll encounter an empty review packet, with your name automatically added to the reviewer filter. From there, you can proceed to provide your review. It's important to note that once you submit your review, you won't have the ability to retract it, so please review your feedback carefully before finalizing.

Step 5: Reflect on Activity (optional)

Reflect on Activity: Setting Up

In this step, you can enable whether or not students should reflect on their assignment.

To add a reflection step, please scroll down to the bottom of the assignment in edit mode and click on the plus (+) button in the purple circle to view available learning steps to add.

When Reflect on Activity is selected, you can set a reflection deadline, as well as a required length of words. There is also a description field in which you can specify what you want students to reflect on regarding the assignment. Students can start with this step when they have completed step 3 Give feedback to your peers.

Reflect on Activity: Active Assignment

In this step, you can view an overview of all student-written reflections.

Writing a reflection is a valuable step to conclude an assignment. For example, the student can write a reflection on how the entire process of providing feedback went. The teacher will see this reflection in an overview in step 4 (if the teacher has enabled this option in the settings).

Students can write their reflections after providing feedback to their peers, regardless of whether they have completed the Received Review step.

Reflect on Activity: Task Overview

Here the teacher can see which groups and which specific students have made progress in completing their reflection. Only the groups whose students have made progress on this step will be shown as in the image below. If the teacher wants to read a specific student's reflection, the teacher clicks view next to the student's name to see their reflection.

Clicking the View Reflections button will take you to the reflections playlist, allowing teachers to easily browse through the entire list of student-written reflections.

Step 6: Grading

Grading: Setting Up

You can add grading criteria to your assignment by clicking on the purple plus (+) button on the bottom left. You can configure how many points you want to give to each process of the assignment and whether the grade should be published as a percentage or pass/fail.

By clicking configure, you can customize your grading criteria and toggle certain parameters on or off depending on the needs of the particular assignment you're setting up:

Grading: Active Assignment

In this step, you have to access a comprehensive overview detailing the grades of each student within the system.

If the teacher has included grading in the settings, it will be visible after the last step. The image below shows what that will look like. By clicking on the arrow on the right or using the scroll bar at the bottom, the teacher can view the rest of the grade sections (from left to right). On the far right there is also an optional grade adjustment . This allows the teacher to add or subtract points for each student. Click on Fullscreen to get a better view.

Newest Tool Version (Creating from Scratch)

Good to Know

Anonymity

If anonymity is enabled, the students work under a pseudonym, but the teacher can always see the student name.

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