Usability of Peer Review Workshops

Research Question: What happens in a 300-level technical writing class when various peer-review/editing approaches are used? We were interested in examining and enhancing the effectiveness of peer review/editing workshops in English 302, Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing. We explored several aspects: Factors impacting student confidence in their responses to peers’ writing Influences of types of workshops, size of groups, type of responses assigned, etc. Method: During winter quarter 2010, we gave three questionnaires exploring the efficacy of different styles of peer review workshops. A total of forty students from two English 302 classes participated. Workshop types included “speed dating” (quick scan, verbal responses), structured worksheets, and group responses (memo format)