Peer review in an economics writing course: the Pen is still mightier than the SWoRD,

Peer review in an economics writing course: the Pen is still mightier than the SWoRD
Jennifer Imazeki
Department of Economics
jimazeki@gmail.com
http://economicsforteachers.blogspot.com

SWoRD
Scaffolded Writing and Reviewing in the Disciplines
Students submit papers
Students review papers of 4-6 peers
Comments and 7-point numeric rating
Students ‘back evaluate’ reviews they receive
5-point numeric rating

What makes SWoRD different?
Student review and backevaluation scores  grades for both writing and reviewing
Reviewing grade: “Accuracy” + “Helpfulness”
Accuracy: Consistency compared to other reviewers
Helpfulness: Back evaluation ratings
Writing grade: adjusted average of numeric ratings from reviewers
Scoring algorithm to remove bias

Econ 449W: Economic Literacy
“The goal of this course is to make you better economists by making you better writers… This course will focus on how to apply and use [economic] knowledge, by incorporating economic material and the economic way of thinking into writing for a more general audience.”

Econ 449W: Structure
2010:
6 peer-reviewed papers, exchanged in class
1 reviewer for each paper, plus instructor feedback
No feedback for reviewers, participation points only

Potential benefits of SWoRD(vs. other peer review tools)
Students read multiple papers, receive feedback from multiple reviewers
Back evaluations provide incentive to take reviews seriously, give students feedback for improving reviews (without requiring instructor intervention)
Rubric scores converted to grades with adjustment for bias

Econ 449W: 2010 vs. 2011
2010:
6 peer-reviewed papers, exchanged in class
1 reviewer for each paper, plus instructor feedback
No feedback for reviewers, participation points only
2011:
4 peer reviewed papers, all online submission
4-5 reviewers for each paper, no/less instructor feedback on draft 1
Writers back-evaluate reviewers, reviewing score based 50% on those back evaluations

Assignment timeline
5 days
5 days
5 days
9pm Monday
9pm Sunday
9pm Friday
9pm Wednesday
First Draft
Final draft
Final reviews (5)
Reviews (5)
Back reviews by Thurs
Back reviews by Wednesday

Issues
Lack of flexibility
Lack of transparency
Scoring algorithm questionable

Peer review in an economics writing course: the Pen is still mightier than the SWoRD
Jennifer Imazeki
Department of Economics
jimazeki@gmail.com
http://economicsforteachers.blogspot.com

Peer review in an economics writing course: the Pen is still mightier than the SWoRD,

by Course Design Institute and pICT SDSU on May 26, 2011

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Peer review in an economics writing course: the Pen is still mightier than the SWoRD, — Presentation Transcript