Re: student critiques

[Kat Nagel <KatNagel -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

Tracie wrote:
>Students also like the benefit of having someone to help them address
>issues in their papers before I review them and slap on a letter grade.

*Yes.*
This technique was used very effectivly in several courses I took as part of
the Technical Writing Certificate program at RIT.

The procedure was most formal in the introductory Writing and Editing class.
 Each assignment was submitted for peer review as the first step.  Sometimes
it went to an individual student who spent part of a class session examining
the piece and filling out a review checklist.  Sometimes we were divided into
small groups of 3-4 people, and we evaluated each others work as a group
(ouch).  After peer review, we had a week to revise the assignment.  It was
then handed in to the instructor, along with:
1.  the original piece
2.  the peer review form
3.  a one-page summary of our response to the review comments
     (what we agreed with, what we disagreed with,
       what we found most helpful)

We were graded on our revised work.  We also were evaluated on how
effectively we reviewed the work of our peers.  No letter grade for this,
just comments from the instructor.  LOTS of work for the instructor, but it
was the best preparation I can think of for surviving in the real world.

The other courses were less structured, but we did most of our work in
project teams, and were expected to use each other's expertise to knock the
rough edges off of our work  _before_  inflicting it on the instructor.

@kat                                                        katnagel -at- aol -dot- com
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