Collaboration in Education

Collaboration is an important part of education that prepares our students for the future. Collaborating with others introduces us to new ideas and helps us become better learners. One really good way to incorporate collaboration into your classroom is through peer-review. In chapter three of Adventures in Authentic Learning, Kristin Harrington talks about how peer-review encourages students to reflect on their work and builds their confidence, all while helping them learn how to help others.

 

Harrington talks about three important parts of effective peer-review (98). Teachers must teach their students how to properly review other's work, which can be done by model reviewing a sample work. Positive reviews need to be specific and helpful, not a vague blanket statement. Older students can be taught to use the Praise, Question, Polish method to review their classmates work, where praises are specific and questions serve as the "critique". Students often do better when they are provided a rubric for the work they're reviewing. for older students this can be the rubric you use for grading the assignment. This gives students specific understanding of what is expected of the work they are assessing. One of the most important parts of the peer-review process is giving students an opportunity for reflection. In order for students to learn from the comments left on their work and improve, they must be given the opportunity to reflect, whether through one on one meetings with the teacher or other means. Students could also be given a follow up assignment to reflect on their work and reviews and talk about how they could improve their work next time.

There are many different ways to conduct peer-review in the classroom, based on age and preference. Younger classes can conduct whole class reviews, with the teacher leading students reviewing everyone's work. For older students who may not be as comfortable sharing their work with others, reviews can be conducted by two students swapping papers. Nowadays there are ways to use technology to have students share their work and leave reviews anonymously. Personally, I love this idea as taking away the face to face aspect of the peer-review also takes away some of the discomfort students feel in watching others view their work. It also allows more reserved students to be more open and honest with their feedback, and grow confidence in their work. Overall, peer-review can be a great way of incorporating collaboration into your classroom and preparing your students for the future.