Social Media and Peer Review: Edmodo in the Composition Classroom

Peer review has become a staple in the composition classroom because of its ability to help students to see writing in a social context. While students use social writing on a daily basis on social networking sites (SNS), these communicative tools have yet to be accepted as valuable pedagogical tools in composition classrooms. This case study investigates how students use Edmodo, an education-specific SNS, to perform a semi-anonymous peer review activity with students from another class. Due to the lack of research in composition studies related to SNS use as a peer review tool, this study expands the conversations of computer-mediated communication tools for peer review to include SNS. By incorporating SNS into the composition classroom, instructors are able to help students become more conscious of the writing that they do over these networks, helping students to make the connection between the writing they do inside and outside of the classroom