2.7 peer feedback in a blog writing class
TRANSCRIPT
BackgroundCourse: Fashion Journalism
Unit: Multiplatform Fashion Journalism
Learning outcome: teach students how to write and edit journalistic work for an online audience
ProblemsStudents felt that they did not
have enough feedback on writing tasks before their assessments.
When it comes to writing, theory won’t take you very far. Constant practice and feedback is the best way to improve.
First assignmentIntroduction to blogging – 200
words
Task: write an introductory blog post incorporating links and images into your writing
IssuesMore than 20% of the students
did not divide their post into paragraphs
More than 40% had typos in their submissions
Nearly 50% wrote sentences that were too long and difficult to understand
Second assignmentE-mail pitch – 200 words
Task: write an e-mail to an editor pitching your multimedia feature
The feedback on MyCourse had very little effect on the amount of typos and run-on sentences
IssuesDue to the issues mentioned
before, giving feedback was very time-consuming
The feedback on those writing issues distracted from the learning outcomes of the course unit
The good newsAll students had taken a writing
unit in the past semester
Nearly half of the students were able to write an introductory blog post with no typos or run-on sentences
The other 50% only needed to apply what they had already learned
ChallengesHow to create conditions that
would motivate them to put extra time into proofreading their posts?
How to stimulate them to reflect on what they wrote?
Third assignmentBlog post – 200 words
Task: write the second post of your reflective blog
Before you submit your work, show your post to a classmate
Watch out for typos and long sentences
ResultsLess than 20% of the posts had
typos
The amount of posts with run-on sentences dropped to nearly 10%
Overall improvement in the quality of their writing
Advantages of peer feedback
It can help students judge how quality work is constituted (Topping 1998)
Increasing autonomy and independent thinking (McMahon 2010)
Developing communication skills (Yu 2011)
Advantages of peer feedback in blogging
Increased accuracy in writing
Developing editing skills
Writing for an audience
Risks of peer feedback: accuracy
Some mistakes may go unnoticed by peers
Advice from peers can be misleading
Risks of peer feedback: interpersonal aspects
“But I don’t talk to her!”
Risk of negative feedback
How to minimise risks
Establish a safe environment that allows students to give and receive constructive feedback
Encourage students to work in groups
Make sure all students are adequately paired
How to minimise risks
Define clear criteria for feedback
Give examples of what is expected
Examples of peer feedback criteria for blog writingAre there spelling mistakes in this
post?Any run-on sentences?Does it use of links and images as
discussed in class?Does it follow the guidelines for
SEO?
How peer feedback affects instructor feedbackWhen peers have corrected more
trivial mistakes, instructor feedback can focus on other learning outcomes
The overall increase in the quality of the work can allow the instructor to deliver feedback more quickly and efficiently
Final thoughts
Students enjoyed sharing their work and commenting on each other’s posts
They were happy with the quality and quantity of feedback they received
Their final assignments showed significant improvement in their writing