Easy Peer Review Assignments in Canvas
Did you know you can assign students to peer review one another's assignment submissions in Canvas? You can automatically assign peer reviews for any assignment in Canvas.
Peer reviews can show the student reviewer's name or be anonymous. You can assign reviewers manually, or Canvas can assign them automatically. You can also assign peer reviews on group assignments and discussions.
Although students can review and leave comments on one another’s work, they cannot grade any work - you will still have to provide grades for the final assignments manually.
Peer reviews cannot be graded directly. If you wish to provide a grade for completing peer reviews, you can create a separate assignment to stand in for that grade, then award credit manually after viewing the peer reviews.
Why Peer Review?
Peer review is a beneficial exercise for training the critical skills of collaboration, critical reading, and reflective feedback. It can save you time as an instructor by providing another editing stage for students to get feedback on their work.
How do you Assign Peer Reviews in Canvas?
You can enable peer reviews for an assignment in the Edit settings. After that, when you view the assignment, you will see link to the “Peer Reviews” page on the right-hand side.
The following is a general overview of assigning (and optionally, grading) peer reviews in Canvas.
Assign Peer Reviews in Canvas (General Process)
1. Edit the settings of the assignment you wish to assign peer reviews to. Select “Require Peer Reviews” and in the settings that appear below select “Automatically assign reviewers.” Specify the date peer reviews will be assigned. Make it after the assignment’s due date.
2. Students will submit their assignments by the due date. At the specified date/time, Canvas will automatically assign reviews.
3. Once the peer reviews are assigned, students will be notified in the Dashboard and their email. They will see their review assignments and be able to leave comments on their reviewee’s work in the Canvas Annotator.
4. Grade the submissions for the assignment.
5. If you wish to provide credit for peer reviews, you can create a No Submission assignment in the Gradebook and assign points manually. Entitle this assignment “Peer Review score”.
If the assignment is not an On Paper or No Submission assignment type, students can also view the peer review information in the sidebar of the assignment details page.
Note: You can also assign a peer review using rubrics. If the assignment includes a rubric, students must only complete the rubric to complete the peer review. However, you can choose to ask your students to also leave a comment in the comment sidebar. The rubric score is used for an assessment opinion only; you must review the assignment and assign the final grade.
How are Peer Reviews Completed by Students?
To complete a peer review, students must review the assignment and leave a comment on the submission details page. Or, if you have a rubric attached to the assignment, students can fill out the rubric and provide a grading “opinion” (as the instructor, you still need to review the assignment and assign a final grade.) Note that in a rubric assignment, students only need to fill out the rubric to complete the review, although you can ask them also to leave a comment, such as a summary, in the sidebar.
Students cannot view previous reviewers' previously submitted comments, including comments by TAs or other instructors.
How to View Student Peer Reviews
The Peer Review page for the assignment will show students' names who have completed the peer review. Click on the reviewee’s name to see the peer review submission. Alternatively, visit a student’s assignment submission to see associated peer reviews.
Instructions for Your Students on How to Do a Peer Review
If any students in your class have not done a peer review in Canvas before, it may help to provide them with the following instructions, or a link to the following articles -
How to Submit Your Peer Review
1. Go to the Assignments in our class.
2. Click on the peer review Assignment.
3. Underneath your submission details, you will see the Assigned Peer Reviews section. Click on the names of your reviewees to view their submissions. 4. You can leave your comments in the assignment comment sidebar, or in Canvas annotations if your browser is compatible. In Canvas annotations you can highlight text and leave comments directly on your reviewee’s work. Make sure to give specific feedback and actionable suggestions and save your review when you are finished.
How to See Peer Feedback
1. To see peer feedback on your submission, go to the assignment. You can also see a “Recent Feedback” feed in the sidebar of the course – click on the title of the assignment to view.
2. There may be comments for you in the assignment comment sidebar. If next to your submission it says, “View Feedback,” you can click to view feedback left for you in Canvas annotations. Make sure to view in a compatible browser.
For more information on assigning and completing peer reviews, you can visit the following resources:
Additional Resources
For instructors:
How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
(Links to an external site.)How do I create a peer review assignment?
(Links to an external site.)How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment? (Links to an external site.)
How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
(Links to an external site.)How do I view student peer review comments? (Links to an external site.)
For students:
How do I submit a peer review to an assignment? (Links to an external site.)
Where can I find my peers' feedback for peer reviews in Canvas? (Links to an external site.)