Both of my courses have peer reviews that are due Monday at noon HT (IS 6100 details are here; the IS 7010 details are here).
Students can get to the peer review feature by following these instructions.
Log in to TurnItIn.com.
Click on the link for our course.
Click on the link labeled “Peer review”. Click the screenshot below for an example. The screenshots are more legible when clicked.
On the next screen, click on the yellow-and-black pencil icon to start the review. See the blue arrow in the screenshot below.
Scroll through the paper. Remember that graphics or images in the original paper might not appear, because TurnItIn.com only displays formatted text.
The mark feature is a bit awkward to use, so I have included a plain old text field for written comments. I suggest that students write their written comments in Word or a text editor, then copy-n-paste the comments in the browser’s text field.
Please rate each paper by using the radio buttons on the top of the screen.
Remember that 1 means “poor”, 3 is “average” and 5 is “excellent”.
Here’s another screenshot with an example.
After completing the ratings, press “Submit” to move to the next paper.
On some computers, TurnItin.com might not show that a review has been completed. This is a bug in their system that we discovered in class last night. As long as the “Submit” button was pressed, I should be able to see the reviews.
Students who have more questions should take a look at pages 12–15 in the TurnItIn.com student manual at http://www.turnitin.com/static/pdf/tii_student_qs.pdf. It’s a nice overview.
My IS 6100 will be fascinated to learn that this web-based application is also an example of a group support system or groupware, as discussed in chapter 7 on page 260.
Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Lotus Notes and many other applications have tools that allow individuals to add comments, ratings, and other content to another user’s documents.
This is helpful when working in a group, as the software allows participants to make edits and comments without altering the original document. A supervisor or group member with appropriate rights can review the changes, and then edit, return, reject or accept the changed items into the document as needed.
TurnItIn’s peer review system is about as usable a web-based system as I’ve seen. Limitations in web browsers and operating systems make the design of a web-based reviewing application quite challenging.
On the other hand, students do not need to install additional software to use the peer review system. This kind of peer review would be difficult to manage on WebCT, and quite a burden in email.
