Peergrade.io - A Time Saver for Peer Reviews
Community Review for Peergrade
My Take
This tool is a real time saver for me and I have recommended it to other teachers. Prior to using Peergrade.io, I was making digital copies of the students' Google Docs, removing their names and passing them out with a cover sheet to complete peer evaluations. I found Peergrade and it simplified the process. Peergrade did all of the work for me and it keeps track of the evaluations and the feedback about the evaluations. It has enabled me to use peer evaluations more often in my classes.
When I began using Peergrade, the Live Sessions mode was not available. The students had to submit their work on one day and then evaluate on the next day. It was cumbersome. Now that Live Sessions is available, that is the mode that I use all of the time. The only issue is if a student waits too long to submit their assignment, then their assignment does not get reviewed and they are not able to review other papers.
The students that turn in their assignment on time have told me how much they appreciate the feedback and the opportunity to review other students' work. It has given them other strategies for how to write their code.
One recommendation I would make is that prior to using Peergrade the teacher should model good feedback. Even high school students need to be reminded what good feedback is.
How I Use It
I have used Peergrade.io in both my computer science classes and mathematics classes. In the computer science classes I have used the Live Sessions for the students to evaluate each other's pseudocode (A document that student's produce that is the English version of their code for their lab.) anonymously. It has given students insight into other student's thinking when solving the programming problem. It has also allowed the students to evaluate if the pseudocode will produce the results that were required.
In my math course I have used Peergrade as progress checks for projects. The students upload their graph or their written section and other students evaluate the product according to the rubric that I had originally distributed. I have noticed that having the students evaluate each other's work with Peergrade has improved the quality of the projects.
One of the nice features of Peergrade is that the students not only receive feedback from their peers, but they have an opportunity to evaluate that feedback.