This article covers some basics of using the Canvas Peer Review Function. When a student is peer reviewing a classmate’s work, it functions similarly to the Canvas Speed Grader function in terms of providing annotated feedback, interaction with a rubric, and leaving comments. The Peer Review feature may not be useful in all situations. Below are a few tips and some examples for applications of the function. These are not necessarily best practices, but some practices known to be in place at Boise State at the time of this article’s creation.

Table of Contents

Utilizing the Canvas Peer Review Function

When to use it

Students are performing a critique of their peers’ work or draft.
Students are evaluating each other’s submitted work (e.g. peer grading)

When to use a different approach

Students are evaluating or providing critique of the work of a group of students.
When the review comments are meant to be seen by other students or groups in the course.
Editing assignments, where the author of the written work may accept or reject the suggestions of a peer editor before resubmission may be more effective without the Peer Review function. Instead, allow peers to suggest changes using the “Suggestions” function in Google Docs or the “Track Changes” option in Microsoft Word.

Important Notes for Setup

It is best to assign reviews manually. If you use the automatic assign function and one or more of the students do not submit their assignment on time, peer reviews will be unbalanced or not completely distributed.
Be sure instructions to students are clear and detailed, particularly if students will be reviewing using an attached rubric.
If students are receiving a grade for their review of a peer in addition to their grade for the originally submitted assignment being reviewed, it may be easier to list the two grades separately. See example below.

Examples

NOTES:

The examples below use rubrics for the peer evaluations. Rubrics are not required with peer evaluation. Without a rubric, a student providing feedback to a peer would provide feedback using (a) In context or annotated feedback using the “View Feedback” button in Canvas, (b) adding text to the “Comments” box, or (c) both options.
Just three examples are provided below. These are not the only options for using the Peer Review functions, but they provide a common language that can be adapted for a variety of uses.

Assignment - Ungraded Submission & Peer Review in Same Module

Students are sharing a draft of a written project for peer feedback.
Peers provide feedback based on a rubric for the assignment.
Instructor will provide feedback, but will not grade the draft until a later module when the revised, completed written project is submitted.

Timing

Submission and peer reviews take place in the same module.

Canvas Module Activities

Course Activity

Canvas Settings

Assignment Directions for Students

X.XX Draft Project for Peer Review

Create an Assignment
Setting the submission to Online submission using either the text entry or file upload options.
Set for 0 Points since the instructor is not providing grades attached to this grade column.
Select Require Peer Reviews and Manually Assign Peer Reviews
Add a Rubric but check the “Remove points from rubric” option. This will allow the peer reviewers to use the rubric for feedback without the influence of point values.

Directions

Include information for students about the content of their draft submission.

Peer Reviewing Instructions

After the due date for submitting your draft, you will be assigned to review two of your peers’ projects. You will see the peer reviews assigned to you in Canvas in the Recent Activity Stream and your To-Do list. If you have trouble locating your assigned peer reviews, read How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete? in the Canvas Student Guide. Peer Reviews are due by [date].

To complete your peer review:

Open this assignment after [day]. You should see the peer reviews assigned to you just below the confirmation that you have submitted your assignment.
Click the name of an assigned peer.
1. A name with a caution sign [looks like an exclamation mark] means the review is incomplete.
2. A name with a checkmark means the review is complete.
Open your peer’s draft. You may need to click Show Rubric before adding your scores and comments.
1. The rubric you are using to provide feedback is the same rubric the instructor will use for grading your paper in Module X, but without the point allocation. Enter your feedback in the rubric.
2. You can also provide annotated feedback in the context of the document by using the View Feedback button to open the Canvas DocViewer.
3. You are required to complete the rubric in order for the review to be marked as “complete” by Canvas. A space for overall comments is also available.
Click the Save button after entering your remarks.
Repeat for each peer review assigned to you.

For more help with the Peer Review, refer to these support materials:

Your grade for sharing your draft and completing two peer reviews will be in your gradebook as [assignment name]. View the rubric there to see how your peer review activity will be graded.

X.XX Draft Project for Peer Review Grading

Create an Assignment
Select the option for No Submission
Add the rubric used for evaluating students' on their peer feedback of others.
Add the total points possible for the activity of peer reviewing.
Do not add this assignment to a module. This assignment is used solely as a grading column to record a grade for reviewing one’s peers.

Note: This Canvas item is a grading column only. You are creating this separate grading column, because the rubric for assessing the student’s ability to provide a review of their peers is different from the rubric used for the item being reviewed.

Tip: For easy access to the Speed Grader, you might choose to add this assignment to an un-published Instructor Resources module. Just be sure the assignment is published, while the module is left unpublished. No content is necessary in the assignment, but you could add grading instructions or a reminder about the purpose of the grading column.

Notes for the Instructor
Manually assign the Peer Reviews after all submissions are received. Refer to How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment? in the Canvas Instructor Guide. For grading, you may wish to view How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor? from the Canvas Instructor Guide when grading students.

Assignment - Ungraded Submission & Peer Review in Different Modules

Students are sharing a draft of a written project for peer feedback.
Peers provide feedback based on a rubric for the assignment.
The instructor will provide feedback, but will not grade the draft until a later module when the revised, completed written project is submitted.

Timing

Submission of the draft is in one module.
Completing the peer reviews/feedback is done in the next or a later module.

Canvas Module Activities

Section

Settings & Build Notes

Content

X.XX Draft Project for Peer Review

Create an Assignment
Setting the submission to Online submission using either the text entry or file upload options.
Set for 0 Points since the instructor is not providing grades attached to this grade column.
Select Require Peer Reviews and Manually Assign Peer Reviews
Add a Rubric but check the “Remove points from rubric” option. This will allow the peer reviewers to use the rubric for feedback without the influence of point values.

Directions

Include information for students about the content of their draft submission.

Peer Reviewing Instructions

After the due date for submitting your draft, you will be assigned to review two of your peers’ projects. You will see the peer reviews assigned to you in Canvas in the Recent Activity Stream and your To-Do list. If you have trouble locating your assigned peer reviews, read How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete? in the Canvas Student Guide. Peer Reviews are due by [day of Module X].

More details for accessing and completing your review are available in [X.XX Assignment in Module X].

X.XX Draft Project for Peer Review

Create an Assignment
Setting the submission to No Submission.
Add the number of Points for the activity.
Add this assignment to the module in which the peer feedback is due.

To complete the peer review activity, you will return to the draft project submission in Module X. You are required to complete reviews of two of your peers’ drafts no later than [date].

To complete your peer review:

Open X.XX Draft Project for Peer Review to identify the peer reviews assigned to you.
Click the name of an assigned peer.
1. A name with a caution sign [looks like an exclamation mark] means the review is incomplete.
2. A name with a checkmark means the review is complete.
Open your peer’s draft. You will need to click Show Rubric before adding your scores and comments.
1. The rubric you are using to provide feedback is the same rubric the instructor will use for grading your paper in Module X, but without the point allocation. Enter your feedback in the rubric.
2. You can also provide annotated feedback in the context of the document by using the View Feedback button to open the Canvas DocViewer.
3. You are required to complete the rubric in order for the review to be marked as “complete” by Canvas. A space for overall comments is also available.
Click the Save button after entering your remarks.
Repeat for each peer review.

For more help with the Peer Review, refer to these support materials:

The rubric below will be used to grade the sharing of your draft and completing two peer reviews.

Notes for the Instructor
Manually assign the Peer Reviews after all submissions are received. Refer to How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment? in the Canvas Instructor Guide. For grading, you may wish to view How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor? from the Canvas Instructor Guide when grading students.

Assignment - Graded Submission & Peer Review in the Same Module

Students are sharing a written project for a grade and for peer feedback.
Peers provide feedback based on a rubric used for the assignment.

Timing

Submission and peer reviews take place in the same module.

Canvas Module Activities

Section

Settings & Build Notes

Content

X.XX Project Submission

Create an Assignment
Setting the submission to Online submission using either the text entry or file upload options.
Add the number of Points for the activity.
Select Require Peer Reviews and Manually Assign Peer Reviews
Add a Rubric. Keep the points visible in the rubric, because this rubric is being used by the instructor for grading.
Add this assignment to the module in which the peer feedback is due.

Directions

Include information for students about the content submission.

Peer Reviewing Instructions

After the due date for this activity, you will be assigned to review two of your peers’ projects. You will see the peer reviews assigned to you in Canvas in the Recent Activity Stream and your To-Do list. If you have trouble locating your assigned peer reviews, read How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete? in the Canvas Student Guide. Peer Reviews are due by [date].

To complete your peer review:

Open this assignment after [day]. You should see the peer reviews assigned to you just below the confirmation that you have submitted your assignment.
Click the name of an assigned peer.
1. A name with a caution sign [looks like an exclamation mark] means the review is incomplete.
2. A name with a checkmark means the review is complete.
Open your peer’s submission. You may need to click Show Rubric before adding your scores and comments.
1. The rubric you are using to provide feedback is the same rubric the instructor will use for grading. Enter your feedback in the rubric.
2. You can also provide annotated feedback in the context of the document by using the View Feedback button to open the Canvas DocViewer.
3. You are required to complete the rubric in order for the review to be marked as “complete” by Canvas. A space for overall comments is also available.
Click the Save button after entering your remarks.
Repeat for each peer review assigned to you.

For more help with the Peer Review, refer to these support materials:

Your grade for sharing your draft and completing two peer reviews will be in your gradebook as [assignment name]. View the rubric there to see how your peer review activity will be graded.

X.XX Peer Reviews of Project

Create an Assignment
Setting the submission to No submission.
Add the number of Points for the activity.
Select Require Peer Reviews and Manually Assign Peer Reviews
Add a Rubric to be sued to evaluate the students' peer feedback performance.
Do not add this assignment to a module. This assignment is used solely as a grading column to record a grade for reviewing one’s peers.

Note: This Canvas item is a grading column only. You are creating this separate grading column, because the rubric for assessing the student’s ability to provide a review of their peers is different from the rubric used for the item being reviewed.

Tip: For easy access to the Speed Grader, you might choose to add this assignment to an un-published Instructor Resources module. Just be sure the assignment is published, while the module is left unpublished. No content is necessary in the assignment, but you could add grading instructions or a reminder about the purpose of the grading column.

Instructor Guide Notes

Important Dates for Instructor

(Optional) Assign Peer Reviews on [day] of Module X. See more details in the Week-Specific Preparation and Tasks Table below.
- This can be done at any time after all submissions are received. Students’ reviews need to be completed by [day] of Module X.

Week X Preparation

X.XX Project Submission
- This assignment includes a peer review activity. The assignment is set up requiring you to manually assign each student to complete 2 peer reviews of their classmates’ first drafts. Refer to How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment? in the Canvas Instructor Guide.
  - It is best to assign the reviews after all students have submitted their assignment.

Week X Grading

The grade attached to this assignment is just for the instructor’s evaluation of the submitted deliverable. The peer review activities by students are graded in [assignment name].
Grading the Peer Reviews - Because the rubric for evaluating drafts needs to be associated with the submitted document, an additional grading column named X.XX Peer Reviews of Project has been created so you can evaluate how a student reviewed their peers. It has its own rubric. You will see this column in your Grade Book. It is also listed in the Faculty Resources Modules.
You may wish to view How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor? from the Canvas Instructor Guide when grading students.

Notes for the Instructor
Manually assign the Peer Reviews after all submissions are received. Refer to How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment? in the Canvas Instructor Guide. For grading, you may wish to view How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor? from the Canvas Instructor Guide when grading students.

Tips or Considerations for Using Peer Review

They need to think carefully about the setup of this process.
- Usually the due date for the peer review is after the close of the current assignment. Students sometimes don't clearly get a reminder to go back and complete the peer review.
- Currently, a peer review assignment does not carry separate points or due dates for the peer review portion of the assignment. The points for the assignment can encompass both the assignment submission and the peer review process, but that needs to be outlined clearly in the rubric, which then isn't a part of the rubric the peer reviewer really should evaluate...it's complicated.
- I recommend choosing to create a separate assignment that grades the students on their peer review contributions separately. Another benefit of creating a separate assignment is that you could then attach a separate rubric to this assignment.
They can set it up to automatically assign Peer Reviews. This should happen after the assignment closes and will only assign reviews for currently submitted items. So anyone who submits late or doesn't submit at all will not be put into the process. The instructor will have to go back and manually add them.
You can make the reviews anonymous where neither student sees the names (either of whom they are reviewing or who reviewed their assignment). Of course, the instructor can see names.
If the instructor is using a rubric, make sure it is set so that "Use this rubric for assignment grading" is NOT CHECKED if they want to adjust the final grade to take into account the average score of the two rubrics - peer review and the instructor review - or if they want to override or not calculate in the peer review and just have it as feedback to the original student.
Also, the peer reviewer MUST fill out the rubric for the review to be marked as complete. It is weird, but if they just put a comment, it doesn't show it as complete to the instructor.
You can use SpeedGrader to review Peer Review assignments, though it can be complicated. In each student’s SpeedGrader assignment view, you will see the submission they shared and the feedback others have made on their submission. Therefore, if your goal is to assess the *feedback* and provide grades for the review portion of the Peer Review assignment, there’s no direct way to see the feedback students made. You have to go to the SpeedGrader page for the student they reviewed to see their feedback.

Related Information

Using Peer Review to Help Students Improve Their Writing, from Washing University in St. Louis
Guidelines for Students - Peer Review, from SERC, Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College (eCampus Vetted the site Apr 2022)
Peer Review Tips
How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
How do I create a peer review assignment?
How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?
How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor?