As I look back on my peer editing crisis, I have decided to create a system. I have spoken with my old department and have compiled a list of things that teachers want their students to be able to do with online/technology-based peer editing.
Basically the list boils down to five things:
(1) Students need a checklist with a stated purpose for their editing. This should be interactive somehow. Students need space to either tick a box/fill in a number on a rating scale, and be forced to use a comment. The comment section should ask for a good sentence/example from the text and one that could be improved.
(2) Students need a highlighting tool for their peer writer's paper.
(3) Students need the ability to comment on specific pieces of text.
(4) Readers need to be able to suggest fixes without correcting the paper itself.
(5) Writers need to be able to access their peer's comments quickly and be able to work from the comments easily-- flipping between screens is not going to work.
From this project I have decided to proposition someone to create this as an app for Google docs. I think that this program has the most usability because it's free and it's educationally friendly. I have decided to write a friendly email to my Google gurus and suggest something like this... we'll see!
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Great Idea! Please let us know if anything comes from your request! It would be awesome to have all these features for peer editing.
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
ReplyDeleteOnline peer editing would definitely be more effective I think with the technologically savvy and hungry students we are now teaching. I got to thinking about your dilemma...do you make your classes use turnitin.com for their writing? I know my school does and we were just taught a new feature which allows other students to peer edit their peers' papers. It is really cool! If you do not use turnitin.com then I definitely support your request to Google! Good luck!
Recceca,
ReplyDeleteMicrosoft word has a "tracking" feature that allows one person to make corrections on a paper, but the original author has to either accept or decline the changes. There is also the comments feature that the professors use with us. Students could always swap laptops (if they have access) and the editing and suggestions for improvement can be done right in Word. I do not have much experience with these two features, but I know the writing teacher at the middle school has her students use these features on a regular basis. I have had students swap laptops and they will ask questions or make suggestions in a different color text.
These are just a few ideas in case your google app does not come through.
Linda