PeerMark is one of the
three tools featured within TurnItIn. It is an online, peer evaluation tool
that allows students to read, review, and evaluate papers submitted by their
classmates. Originality Reports and
GradeMark are the other tools.
I
use PeerMark in most of my graduate courses in Student Affairs Administration
for the process of students seeking feedback from peers and making writing a
more public rather than private process, with fairly low stakes. Using
PeerMark lessens writing apprehension for students of varying writing
abilities, who find themselves less concerned that everyone else knows how to
write better than they do. It also positions students as competent and
active voices in the writing process, rather than putting all of that responsibility
on me. The quality of the final drafts have improved greatly, and I can focus
more on responding to students' ideas rather than being distracted by grammar
and style.
Students
report that it is easier for them to spot errors in one another's writing, as
it is to catch such errors in their own work. They also find the process
of editing for others' work helps them see patterns they might want to change
in their own writing. And, as the semesters progress, I frequently will
see them adding comments to their own work, like "I know this section
needs more examples. Can you help me brainstorm some ideas of how this
applies?"
I like PeerMark because
it's fairly easy to set-up and later review. D2L integration works for
the initial assignment, but not the reviews. You need to create review
assignments in TurnItIn directly and create student accounts there,
too. Making sure to provide clear guidelines and a meaningful
purpose can facilitate a much better student experience using PeerMark.
More
information about PeerMark and its capabilities can be found at https://guides.turnitin.com/01_Manuals_and_Guides/Instructor/Instructor_User_Manual/23_PeerMark
Submitted by
Dr. Tori Svoboda, Student Affairs Administration
