Calibrated Peer Review

What is it?

Calibrated Peer Review (CPR), available on the web at http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu , is a suite of integrated, internet-based instructional tools that enable students to learn by writing and instructors to use writing as a learning tool without increasing their grading load. CPR tenets include:

• Expository writing promotes understanding
• Clear writing demonstrates clear thinking
• Peer evaluation requires higher order, critical thinking skills
• Writing to learn not equal to Learning to write

How it works

Instructors can either author their own CPR assignments or choose from a library of assignments. Students write short essays on a specific topic using instructor selected source materials (web sites, textbooks, articles, etc). Guiding questions help students to organize their thoughts and encourage critical thinking. Once students have electronically submitted their written text they move on to the “calibration” phase. For this step, they read and critique three calibration essays that represent low, medium, and high quality texts and that respond to the same assignment the students have just completed. Students must demonstrate mastery of reviewing these essays before moving on to review the work of their peers. After critiquing the work of typically three other students, each student returns to their own text and assesses it.

The CPR suite of tools allows digital integration that manages text submission, the review process, analysis of student input, and report preparation for both student and instructor.

Benefits

• encourages writing in the science curriculum and writing involves reflective, analytic, and synthetic thinking
• encourages critique in the science curriculum and critiquing involves evaluative thinking
• encourages the scientific model of peer reviewed writing to come into the undergraduate classroom
• does not increase grading load of instructor (because peer graded)
• increases student time with content (because of writing, critiquing, and self assessment processes)
• allows instructor to extend curriculum to topics not covered in class or not covered in sufficient depth
• acts as a bridge for students more used to the writing often required of them in their humanities or social sciences majors.

Constraints    

• students may resent writing in science curriculum
• generating your own writing assignment (vs. using an existing one) is NOT trivial.
  

More

The CPR tour (you'll need to click the link once you're on the login page) gives an excellent dry run through the stages of a CPR assignment that a student works on.