Project Investigator(s): Katja Thieme, Instructor, English, Vantage, Laila Ferreira, Firas Moosvi
Project Description
We investigate the use of ComPAIR as a platform for peer review among students in ASRW writing studies classes and compare feedback quality on ComPAIR with in-class methods of peer review. Writing studies instruction in ASRW has so far relied on the think-aloud method of peer review, a method well supported in the research literature. However, with the arrival of digital peer feedback platforms like ComPAIR, questions about the efficacy of this method arise. With well-established assignment criteria in hand, we will code and analyze both types of feedback–1) written comments on paper produced by students in a face-to-face, think-aloud session and 2) digital comments provided by students on ComPAIR.
Research Questions
1.Does providing online written feedback using the ComPAIR tool lead to students using metalanguage for feedback more often and in a more useful way? 2. Do students incorporate feedback they receive into subsequent work in order to better anticipate and write for situation specific writing situations (such as for different assignment criteria)? 3. What is the effect of providing think-aloud oral and handwritten feedback compared to to digitally typed, feedback generated through the ComPAIR process? Peer feedback has been shown both to improve motivation (White, 1998) and provide long-term learning benefits (Jhangiani, 2016). Performing an active comparative process facilitates students’ future learning by enabling them to go beyond identifying superficial features of a phenomenon (Bransford,1999; Schwartz,1998 ). Adaptive comparative judgement (ACJ) has been proposed as reliable in assessing complex items (Pollitt, 2012). ComPAIR is an ACJ-based online tool that facilitates peer feedback at scale (Potter, 2017). Learners evaluate, comment upon, and rank pairs of submissions in classroom contexts across disciplines. This project evaluates the strategies offered by the think-aloud protocol already taught in UBC writing studies classes to ComPAIR as it is piloted across campus.
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
ASRW teaches over 2,000 students each year in its writing studies courses. While all ASRW instructors ask students to provide peer feedback on assignments, only few have so far used ComPAIR as part of that process. If, as we hypothesize, use of ComPAIR encourages increased use of the metalanguage related to genre awareness, it might better support the courses’ learning objectives than think-aloud feedback does. Our study will clarify the benefits of ComPAIR for ASRW instructors and thus support learning objectives in writing studies courses at UBC and elsewhere. Beyond UBC, this study contributes to ongoing research on how providing feedback facilitates student participation in scholarly knowledge-making practices of the university. Providing effective feedback and incorporating the feedback of peers are integral to a writing in academic and workplace settings.