Adapting Peer Review to an Online Course: An Exploratory Case Study

With demonstrated benefits to higher level learning, peer review in the classroom has been well researched and popular since at least the 1990s. However, little or no prior studies exist into the peer review process for online courses. Further, we found no prior research specifically address-ing the operational aspects of online peer review. This research addresses that gap by comparing the issues involved in managing peer review for an online course with those for a traditional classroom course. In an exploratory case study, two sections of the same introductory level course were taught by the same professor in the same academic term, one section in the tradi-tional classroom and one as an online section. Both sections covered the same material in the same order. Online students had access to narrated PowerPoint recordings that tracked in-class lectures. The same assignments and exams were used. The two sections used a joint discussion board for posting questions and answers about the course material. In short, the two courses were almost identical, except for the steps necessary to make peer review operate in an online envi-ronment. An eleven-step process for implementing peer review was isolated and documented as part of this research. All steps except the first, creating the grading rubric, required more time and effort fo