Do you find that peer interactions boost learning?
Do you wish there was an easier way to manage peer learning?
FeedbackFruits, a new Canvas-integrated tool at the University of Minnesota, may be able to help.
Why peer learning?
Research indicates that peer assessment is effective, leading to gains in both meta-cognition and transferable skills (Topping, 2017). Further, it’s been found that online peer feedback may be even more effective than offline or in-person peer feedback (Jongsma, Scholten, van Muijlwijk-Koezen & Meeter, 2022). In practice, however, instructors find that the logistics, planning, and facilitation of peer learning are challenging. At UMN, instructors and staff have long acknowledged that while they wished to use peer learning strategies, the available academic technologies were often making the process more difficult.
The urgent need for improved collaboration learning tools emerged out of a process to identify functional gaps in our academic technology ecosystem. Over the past year, the DiaLOG Learning Tools group engaged the UMN community and gathered input from faculty and staff. After a system-wide evaluation and request for proposal process, FeedbackFruits (FbF) tools were chosen to support more engaging and intuitive collaborative learning.
Enter FeedbackFruits
This fall, a suite of FeedbackFruits (FbF) tools is being introduced to the university community. Instructors and staff can explore these tools now and begin to plan for spring semester. Here are the four tools, which are currently integrated into Canvas:
- Peer Review - learners provide feedback to peers on the quality of their submitted work.
- Group Member Evaluation - group members evaluate the quality of peers’ contributions and participation.
- Skill Review - instructors evaluate activities such as presentations, oral exams, or interviews.
- Self Assessment - learners review themselves based on predefined criteria.
Corey Nelson, Carlson School of Management faculty, has been using FeedbackFruits extensively and says, “To me, FeedbackFruits is a logistical tool. It just cuts the logistics out of dealing with just collecting and organizing.”
Ready to get started?
While it may be tempting to jump right into FeedbackFruits, we encourage you to first make a solid instructional plan. Try the following process.
- Plan your assignment or activity, carefully laying out tasks and requirements for each step. Learn more about Designing Peer Assessment Assignments; How to Evaluate Group Work; or Ideas and Strategies for Peer Assessment
- Use this UMN FeedbackFruits article to help you decide which of the four tools best fits your learning needs.
- Learn how to Add Feedback Fruits to Canvas. Peer learning assignments and tools can be complex, but help is available.
- Test your new assignment with colleagues or a low-stakes student activity on your Canvas site.
- Prepare your students by making FbF student-related resources available on your Canvas site.
- Reflect and record how the assignment went; make adjustments for next time.
Peer learning activities and tools can become complex very quickly. We suggest contacting ATSS for a consultation with an appropriate AT staff.
As Corey Nelson says, “ You could do peer evals weekly if you wanted to because you don't have to do anything. FeedbackFruits does it all for you.”References
Jongsma, M. V., Scholten, D. J., van Muijlwijk-Koezen, J. E., & Meeter, M. (2022). Online versus offline peer feedback in Higher Education: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331221114181
Topping, K. (2017). Peer assessment: Learning by judging and discussing the work of other learners. Interdisciplinary Education and Psychology, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.31532/interdiscipeducpsychol.1.1.007