Padlet Peer Review

Padlet Peer Review: Overview with Example

Using Padlet, or a similar platform, for online, asynchronous peer review meets several of the criteria for building community in an online space. In addition to the shared objectives, peer support, and tech that connects listed above, this activity also enables student social presence and instructor presence. 

In the past, in my face-to-face ESL writing classes, I have used small group peer review in class, with students completing forms that ask about specific parts of the essay and how well the essay being reviewed meets the necessary criteria. In these face-to-face environment, many students always seemed a bit uncomfortable commenting on their peers' papers and discussing their findings with them. This is in addition to the common worry of students when asked to peer review of, "I am not an expert, how can my review be helpful to the student?"  

By using an online platform, the peer review can be completed asynchronously without having to discuss the review directly with the other student. This alleviates a lot of the discomfort, and it also gives students plenty of time to complete their review (as opposed to taking synchronous class time, either online or face-to-face, for students to complete the reviews), allowing them to feel more confident that they will have time to identify and articulate their findings. In addition, while I prefer to have students provide their names because it helps to build relationships and community, if a class has a lot of students who are very reluctant to provide feedback, this activity can also be open anonymously in Padlet, so nobody knwos who provided the feedback on their papers. A good approach may be to do the first one anonymously to get the students acclimated to the process, and then for subsequent peer reviews provide names.

Below is an example of how peer review can be set up in Padlet, with a couple of example student posts and comments. The first student has posted their draft essay (just an outline for this example) as a Word document, and the second has posted theirs as a Google Doc—either of these options works just as well in Padlet.

The example responses demonstrate some of the different ways students can provide feedback and support within the platform. Student can provide their responses in text, accompanied by supportive GIFs and images. Also, students can provide targeted links to help the student, as the example student leaves with a link to a resource providing instruction on writing hooks. Lastly, there is an example of a student providing audio feedback, which can be seamlessly created and uploaded within Padlet (as can video) by students and by the instructor.

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