Longitudinal Analysis of Peer Feedback in a Writing-

Intensive Course: A Pilot Study

PI: Christina HendricksCo-PI: Jeremy Biesanz

University of British Columbia-Vancouver

Funded by the UBC Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning SoTL Seed Fund

Festival of Learning, June 2016Slides licensed CC-BY 4.0

Literature on peer feedbackReceiving peer feedback improves writing (Paulus, 1999; Cho & Schunn, 2007; Cho & MacArthur, 2010; Crossman & Kite, 2012)

Giving peer feedback improves writing(Cho & Cho, 2011; Li, Liu & Steckelberg, 2010)

GAPS: Most studies look at revisions to a single essay, not changes across different essays

Draft 1

Draft 2

Draft 3

Essay 1 Essay 2 Essay 3 Essay 4 Essay …n

PFB

PFB

PFB

PFB PFB PFB

Few studies look at “dose-response curve”

Pilot study research questions1. How do students use peer comments given and

received for improving different essays rather than drafts of the same essay?

2. Are students more likely to use peer comments given and received for improving their writing after more than one or two peer feedback sessions? How many sessions are optimal?

3. Does the quality of peer comments improve over time?

• Interdisciplinary, full year course for first-years

• 18 credits (English, History, Philosophy)• Students write 10-12 essays (1500-2000

words)• Peer feedback tutorials every week (4

students)

http://artsone.arts.ubc.ca

Toni Morrison, Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Osamu Tezuka, public domain on Wikimedia Commons

Jane Austen, public domain on Wikimedia Commons

Friedrich Nietzsche, public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Data for pilot study 2013-2014

• 10 essays by 12 participants (n=120)

• Comments by 3 peers on essays (n=1218)

• Comments by instructor (n=3291)

• All coded with same rubric

Coding RubricCategories(plus subcategories, for 11 options)

• Strength of argument• Organization• Insight• Style & Mechanics

Numerical value

1: Significant problem2: Moderate problem3: Positive comment/praise

E.g., STREV 2: could use more textual evidence to support your claims

Change for future

Inter-coder reliability

Fleiss’ Kappa Intra-class correlation

Student comments (n=141)

All categories: 0.61 (moderate)Most used categories: 0.8 (excellent)

0.96 (excellent)

Essays (n=120) 0.71 (adequate)

3 coders:• Daniel Munro & Kosta Prodanovic

(undergrads, former Arts One)• Jessica Stewart (author, editor)

Change for future

LOOKING AT TRENDS IN COMMENTS OVER TIME

INSTRUCTORComments

-.28**

Strength

Style

Organiz.

Insight-.04*

Number of 2 comments over time

STUDENT comments

Strength

Style

Organiz.

Insight

-.16**

Number of 2 comments over time

INSTRUCTORComments .31***

Strength

Style

Organiz.

Insight

.08**

.19**

.11**

Number of 3 comments

STUDENTComments

Strength

Style

Organiz.

Insight

Number of 3 comments over time

HOW DOES ESSAY QUALITY CHANGE OVER TIME?

Essay quality improves linearly

b = .038t(107) = 2.1p = .037

Essays rated on a 7-point scale

MORE COMPLEX ANALYSES

Cross-lagged panel design with auto-regressive structure

Essay QualityTime 1

Essay QualityTime 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Path A: Instructor Comments

Essay QualityTime 1

Essay QualityTime 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Significant relationships• Ratings of 1 in Strength (-.12*) & Org. (-.23**)• Ratings of 2 in Strength (-.06*) & Style (-.08*)• Ratings of 3 in Str, (.11*), Insight (.35*), Style

(.15*) *p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

Path A: Student comments

Essay QualityTime 1

Essay QualityTime 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Significant relationships• Ratings of 2 in Insight (-.53*)• Ratings of 3 in Organization (.13*)

*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

Path C: instructor commentsEssay Quality

Time 1Essay Quality

Time 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Significant effects don’t show up if split out by category• Comments ratings of 1 (.29**)• Comments ratings of 2 (.23*)• Comments ratings of 3 (.21, p=.057)*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p

<.00001

Path C: student commentsEssay Quality

Time 1Essay Quality

Time 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Significant relationships• Comments rated 2 in Strength (.22*) & Style

(.33**)• Comments rated 3 in Style (.31*)

*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

Path D: Student & Instructor comments

Essay QualityTime 1

Essay QualityTime 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Significant relationship ONLY if combine student & instructor comments, & only for comments rated 1 (all categories combined): (.05, p=.06)

Research question 1How do students use peer comments given and received for improving different essays rather than drafts of same essay?

o Very little significant evidence of relationships in Path D

o No difference between comments given & received

Research question 2Are students more likely to use peer comments given and received for improving their writing after more than one or two peer feedback sessions? How many sessions are optimal?

o No evidence that there is any change over time in path D

o No difference between comments given or received

Research question 3Does the quality of peer comments improve over time?o No evidence of change over time in path

A

Essay QualityTime 1

Essay QualityTime 2

CommentsTime 1

CommentsTime 2

B

A

C

D

E… N

… N

Research Question 3, cont’d

Student/instructor agreement on average numerical ratings on each essay • tends to go down over time (-.04**)

• student ratings increase at only half the rate (.16*) that instructor’s ratings increase (.33*****)

*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

Research Question 3, cont’dCorrelations on number of comments, students & instructor• No change in these relationships over

time

*p < .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001, ****p < .0001 *****p <.00001

Comment value 1

Comment value 2

Comment value 3

Strength 0.23*Organization 0.21* 0.17*Insight 0.17*Style

Some conclusionsPilot study: feasible for larger sample? Yes, if:

o instructors code essay quality rather than coders

o “chunk” essays for cross-lagged analyseso have easy collection of comments

References• Cho, K., & MacArthur, C. (2010). Student revision with peer and

expert reviewing, Learning and Instruction. 20, 328-338.• Cho, Y. H., & Cho, K. (2011). Peer reviewers learn from giving

comments. Instructional Science, 39, 629-643. • Cho, K. & Schunn, C. D. (2007). Scaffolded writing and rewriting

in the discipline: A web-based reciprocal peer review system. Computers & Education, 48, 409–426

• Crossman, J. M., & Kite, S. L. (2012). Facilitating improved writing among students through directed peer review, Active Learning in Higher Education, 13, 219-229.

• Li, L., Liu, X., & Steckelberg, A. L. (2010). Assessor or assessee: How student learning improves by giving and receiving peer feedback. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(3), 525–536.

• Paulus, T. M. (1999). The effect of peer and teacher feedback on student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 265-289.

Thank you! Christina Hendricks

University of British Columbia-Vancouver

Website: http://blogs.ubc.ca/christinahendricksBlog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/chendricksTwitter: @clhendricksbc

Slides available: https://is.gd/PeerFeedbackPilot_FOL16

Slides licensed CC-BY 4.0

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