NOTICE This tool is available until 31.12.2023. Read more.
Peergrade is a tool that you can use in a course as an assignment for students to practise giving and receiving feedback from their peers.
In a nutshell, students submit an assignment either individually or as a group, and they can give feedback on other students or groups' assignments.
They can also comment on the feedback that they have received.
How do you setup Peergrade?
In MyCourses, add an external tool from the activity or resource list.
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- Activity name: Name your peer-review activity
- Preconfigured tool: Choose Peergrade.
- Launch container: New window. This means that a new window is opened when students click on the activity.
Click “Save and display”.
Go to Peergrade. Before you can create an assignment for students to peer review, you need to verify yourself via the email sent by Peergrade. Check your spam folder if you don't find the email in your inbox.
In Peergrade, create a new class and name it after your course.
Using Peergrade for peer review
Peergrade can be used for individual submissions and for peer feedback.
Create a new assignment and a review template in Peergrade. Give it a title and provide a description of the assignment.
The title and the description are shown to the students when they start reviewing.
In the Rubric, specify the criteria that students use to evaluate the quality of their peers’ assignments. These are the questions that the students answer when giving feedback to their peers. You can select different question types—Text, Scale or Yes/No—by editing questions in the rubric.
Select the Homework template, and add deadlines for submissions and for reviews.
Click “Create an assignment”.
Next, check Settings.
- Submissions: Select the type of files students can submit.
- Feedback: Mark the number of reviews students complete. In other words, specify how many students does each student give feedback to.
- Rubric: Hide or show the rubric to the students before submission.
- Advanced: Receiving and giving feedback is anonymous by default. Here you can make changes to anonymity, or change when the students are allowed to give feedback to their peers.
Peergrade will randomly select the peers' assignments to which a student gives feedback. You cannot manually select who reviews whose assignment.
Is it possible to score students' performance in Peergrade?
Sort of. Peergrade allows you to assess students' submissions and feedback with the Peergrade scoring system.
Performance scores for students are calculated from their submission score % (received feedback from peers) + feedback score % (given feedback to peers) = combined score % (a weighted average between the submission and feedback score).
Read more on scores and weights.
Unfortunately, Peergrade does not allow transferring any scores, or grades, to MyCourses at the moment. However, you can export data from Peergrade then and import the grades from Excel to MyCourses via a CSV file and using student numbers/email addresses to map the students to the respective grades.
Using Peergrade for group peer review
Peergrade can also be used for group submissions and for group-to-group feedback. The settings for group submissions are the same as in peer review except that now you must begin by creating groups in MyCourses.
To create groups in MyCourses, go to Participants in the left navigation bar and find Groups from the gear icon.
Groups: Create groups either automatically (Auto-create groups) or manually (Create group).
Grouping: For easier operation with the groups, create grouping and add the groups in the grouping.
Read more on creating groups.
Then, continue to Peergrade and Settings:
- Groups: Allow students to submit as a group. Only one submission for each group is allowed.
- Group review: We recommend you select that students review group submissions as a group. Reviews must be made on the behalf of the whole group.
- Moodle groupings: Use the groupings from Moodle that you just created in MyCourses.
Read more on how group feedback works.
What happens to a group peer review if a student decides to opt out of a course?
If a student opts out of the course, we recommend you deactivate (or delete) the student manually from the Peergrade Participant page (click on "Class" to find this page). Not deactivating the student can cause problems for group reviews.
The difference between deactivating and deleting.
Keep in mind:
- By default, Peergrade sends email notifications to both students and the teacher. This can be changed in the "Class Settings".
- Feedback is anonymous by default, but this can be changed.
- Peer review allocation can be done only randomly.
- The easiest way to use group submissions is to create groups in MyCourses and to use these groups in Peergrade.
Instructions for students
Before students can submit an assignment or review other students’ assignments, they need to verify themselves for each course via the email send by Peergrade.
Remind the students to check their spam folder too for this verification email.
Peergrade Student Video Tutorials
Peergrade gives some tips for students on how to give constructive feedback.
Phases in Peergrade for students:
- Assignment - Description and deadlines
On the Assignment page, you will see the description and the instruction for an assignment. On the right hand side, you will see when do you have to submit your assignment at the latest and to give feedback to your peers' assignments at the latest. - Submission - Submitting an assignment
On the Submission page, submit your assignment in the right format. You will see the format types that you can use to upload your assignment. Remember to click the button Submit to submit your assignment. You have a chance to change your submission, or to delete it, after the submission. - Review - Give feedback to your peers' assignments
On the left side on the Review page, you will see your peer's assignment that you need to give feedback on. On the right side, you will see the questions that you need to answer to. Read throught the assignment and answer the questions. Cllick the button Submit feedback to submit your feedback. After submitting, you will see either another assignment that you need to give feedback on, or you will be moved to the next phase. - React - React to the feedback given to you
The React page follows the same format as the previous Review page. On the left side, you can read feedback that you have received from your peers. Comment if you disagree with something, or if you would like to ask something, for example if you did not understand some part in the feedback. Your teacher can see and check your comments and the feedback. On the right side, you can review how useful the feedback given to you is, and add additional comments if you like to. Cllick the button Submit feedback reaction in the end. - Results - Overview of feedback
On the left side on the Results page, you can choose to see the summary of the feedback that you have given to your peers' assignments, and feedback that has been given to your assignment. You can also choose to see feedback by each submitted assignment or by reviewer.
Help and Support
If you need help with using Peergrade or would like to test Peergrade with someone, send the Teacher Services team a message to MyTeaching Support form.