Abstract

Many educators have expressed the importance of providing feedback to students in higher education (Brown & Knight, 1994; Hounsell, 2003) and that formative feedback is recognized as important during the revision phase of writing (Flower, 1985; Topping, 1998). There have been many studies on the usefulness of peer review in higher education particularly for facilitating online learning (Carlson & Berry, 2003; Raadt, Toleman, & Watson, 2005). There has however, been contradictory evidence as to the reliability and validity of peer assessment (Brown, Bull & Pendlebury, 1997; Topping et al., 2000; Segers & Dochy, 2001) as it has been suggested that good students under rate their performance and less accomplished students often over rate their performance (Dochy et. al., 1999; Lejk & Wyvill, 2001). Students can misinterpret the assessment criteria (Orsmond et. al. 1996; 1997; 2000; 2002), causing confusion when comparing peer to teacher feedback. There has been a lot of focus in the literature on the process of peer review particularly as a tool for providing feedback. There has however, been less emphasis placed on the collaborative nature of the process and its value towards life-long learning. As Collins, Harkin and Nind (2001) explained “good learning is collaborative both because of the centrality of communication for learning and because thinking is, itself, a social practice” (p.110). When peer review is used in an online collaborative learning (OCL) environment, as Brunk-Chavez and Miller (2006) discussed, collaborative learning can empower the student and “encourages exploratory talk” (p.5), which is above and beyond its role as an assessment tool. Rowland (2000) sees this interchange as a form of “collaborative enquiry” where “mutual support” (p.122) is provided. This paper will explore this concept within the framework of discussing the adoption of online peer review to teach Postgraduate students how to write a research paper in Arts Administration.