The Role of Peer Review Activity on Graduate Student Learning Experiences

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how a term paper peer review activity enhanced studentsââ¬â¢ collaboration and promoted their critical thinking skills. This study was conducted in a fully online graduate course, which was first offered in the Summer 2014 semester. Students were required to take the course as part of the Masters of Science in Global Health and Masters of Public Health programs. The course was offered via the Blackboard platform and utilized multiple strategies to enhance student participation. The course was designed in a modular format with course activities including individual watching streaming lecture videos, discussion blogs, journal article reviews and presentations in video delivery, synchronous case study in Blackboard Collaborate sessions, and term paper writing. The term paper peer review activity was added in the Summer 2015 semester. The purpose of the peer review activity was for students to learn from your peers' feedback as they work towards completing their term paper. Expected learning outcomes for the peer review were that students would become competent in scientificàwriting. Studentsââ¬â¢ feedback indicated their appreciation of the support from team members. Preliminary analysis indicated that students became more reflective during the writing process and a better quality of term paper was shown in their final grades. Faculty in either undergraduate or graduate program will learn the design of peer review and how it promotes studentsââ¬â¢ interaction and support in a group setting in online environments.