Using peer review as a vehicle for communication skill development and active learning

  • Authors:

  • Karen Anewalt

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

There is a renewed interest in incorporating peer review activities into computer science courses in response to current interest in active learning and group projects. The peer review process models real world professional activities, provides students with the opportunity to learn how to deal with criticism and how to provide constructive criticism to others, and can develop team skills. Without peer review or similar activities, students will receive little practical experience in building these types of skills which will serve them throughout their professional careers.This paper describes peer review activities used in an undergraduate software engineering course and provides student and faculty reactions to the peer review activities. The activities described could easily be altered for computer science courses throughout the curriculum. The students reported feeling more confident about their abilities following peer review activities and that the activity improved the quality of work that they submitted for grading.