Peer Critique in an Online Environment: Nature of Student Critiques and Their Perceptions of the Process

Research has shown that an effective peer critique process improves the quality of student assignments in various disciplines. Despite its benefits, peer critique is not without challenges. The major concern is the quality of the feedback. Students are not willing to take critical stances in reviewing their peers’ work and they tend to give more positive comments on their peers’ work. Students often complain that most feedback is not useful. Due to poor feedback, students do not feel they have learned from their experiences. This paper reports a longitudinal study investigating peer critique conducted in the online learning environment. The purpose of this study is to observe how students conduct peer critique in an online environment, where interventions are infused and applied to promote group dynamics. Student online critiques were archived. Content analysis was applied in coding student critiques. Student-written reflections were collected to obtain student perceptions about online peer critique.