Creating and Managing Peer Review Assignments in Canvas

This article provides an overview of the peer review feature available in Canvas, covering how to create an assignment with a peer review element, as well as how to manage the peer reviews.

Description

This article provides an overview of the Peer Review feature available in Canvas. The following sections will cover how to set up and manage peer reviews efficiently.

Environment

Canvas LMS in your browser

Solution 

Creating Assignments With Peer Reviews

Peer reviews can be assigned as part of an assignment to facilitate collaborative learning and provide students with the opportunity to critique their classmates' work. Follow the steps below to create an assignment with peer reviews:

1. Go to canvas.ohio.edu
2. Open your course in Canvas
3. Select Assignments in the course navigation menu
4. Select + Assignment to create a new assignment
5. Scroll down to the Peer Reviews section and enable the option Require Peer Reviews
   • Choose to either Manually Assign Peer Reviews or Automatically Assign Peer Reviews
6. Choose whether reviews will be anonymous by selecting the Peer Reviews Appear Anonymously check box or leaving it unchecked 
   • Read notes about anonymous peer reviews before making your decision 
7. Specify the number of reviews each student should complete
8. Select Save & Publish or Save to finish

Outcome: Your assignment is set up with peer reviews and students will be prompted to review their peers' work based on the configuration.

Managing Peer Reviews

Once peer reviews are assigned, instructors can manage and monitor the reviews through the assignment page. Follow these steps to manage peer reviews:

1. Go to canvas.ohio.edu
2. Open your course in Canvas
3. Select Assignments in the course navigation menu
4. Choose the assignment for which you have set up peer reviews
5. Select Peer Reviews in the upper right corner to see a list of students and their assigned reviews 
6. If you have opted to manually assign peer reviews, select Give [Student Name] another submission to assess +
7. Choose the [Select Student] drop-down menu to see available students for peer review
8. Select the appropriate student
9. Select Add
10. Students who have completed their peer reviews will display a check mark icon to the left of their assigned peer reviews; students who have not completed their peer reviews will be indicated with an exclamation point 
11. Hovering over assigned reviews reveals two icons: the bell-shaped icon can be used to remind students to complete a peer evaluation; the trashcan-shaped icon can be used to delete the peer review

Outcome: You can effectively manage peer reviews, ensuring that students are engaging with their classmates' work and providing constructive feedback.

Peer Review Grades

Students do not receive grades for completing a peer review. If instructors want to assign points for peer reviews, we recommend creating a No Submission assignment in the grade book and assign points manually. The Peer Review page for the assignment will show the names of students who have completed their assigned peer review(s).

Get Help From OIT

• Visit the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS)  page to create a ticket

• Visit the Canvas LMS Resources and Training page for available Canvas training

Additional Resources

• Canvas Basics Guide
• Canvas Instructor Guide
• Canvas Video Guide
• Mobile Guides
• Canvas Course Accessibility Checklist
• Canvas LMS Implementation Updates
• Canvas Experts Corner Blog