In the age of information overload, students are naturally going to be experts at finding quick pieces of information online. However, as teachers, we know that doing a simple Google search is not an effective way for students to learn and retain new material (1). When you pair this problem with how easily distracted students can be these days, it becomes even more important to teach your students how to provide and receive peer feedback in the classroom. Whether you use formative assessment tools like EdPuzzle or Kahoot! Or if you rely on old fashioned paper and pencil quizzes, here are some ideas you can use to ensure high-quality student-to-student feedback during group work:
1) Model the feedback you want students to give and receive
The first step is to model for your students the type of peer assessment you hope they will provide and receive. This could be as simple as having a class discussion where you talk about what kind of feedback each person should give, depending on their role (recorder, timekeeper, etc.). Once the class has a clear idea of what good feedback looks like from a group member’s perspective, it is much easier for them to start giving effective feedback when they work in groups.
2) Use public voting during roundtable discussions
For younger students or those that have difficulty articulating their opinions in writing, student-to-student feedback can sometimes be minimized if kids are afraid to disagree with one another or try to cover it up with nice, general comments. The roundtable discussion is the perfect time for students to share their feedback with a small group of classmates who can provide it in a way where they don’t feel intimidated about sharing an opinion. When you use public voting software like Vote Here, students have to create a unique login that only allows them one vote at a time, so no one has an unfair advantage when it comes to determining what good peer feedback looks like.
3) Pair younger children together as “expert buddies”
Students learn from each other throughout their K-12 career (2), making peer-to-peer learning much more effective than teacher instruction alone. However, research also shows that this multiplier effect is incredibly strong when students are within one year of each other in age (3). For this reason, use the buddy system to pair your students into groups that contain a mixture of age and experience levels. This way, you not only ensure that every group will have all the skills needed to complete their work but also can support each student’s learning by providing targeted feedback from a knowledgeable peer.
4) Break down the standards you want students to master
If teachers want their students to be able to self-assess accurately, they need to make sure kids know exactly what level of understanding they should strive towards at every point during their class(4). This is why it’s helpful for teachers who use formative assessment tools like Kahoot!, EdPuzzle, Socrative, or Nearpod to divide their students into groups according to the types of skills they are working on.
5) End class by sharing student feedback with your whole class
Once all of your students have had a chance to provide peer feedback during assignment-based learning activities, make sure every child has an opportunity to see how other people interpreted what they said. This could be as simple as sharing a list of each group’s biggest accomplishments and challenges during class or having students go to different parts of the room to see how their peers interpreted what they said. In either case, seeing your feedback in comparison with others will help students understand how accurate other people perceive their understanding to be.
Conclusion:
Peer-to-peer feedback isn’t just effective because it makes students responsible for their learning. It’s also a strategy that can be used to help teachers understand how accurately their students can assess themselves through the standards they are being asked to meet (4). By taking advantage of these five strategies, you will not only have more successful classroom instruction but also provide your learners with an effective way to improve mastery of overall content areas.
Author Bio:
Sarah has been writing for a decade and now for the online Quran classes Uk Website. She obtained her Master’s degree at the University of London. Her main objective is to write insightful content for those people who read and like it.
