Peer Assessment

The peer assessment made me feel a little uncomfortable, honestly.  It wasn't necessarily the fact that we had to do it (it is definitely a useful tool and I didn't feel like it was asking too much or anything...), but probably the way it was set up.  One thing that I know would have really helped me is if we would have had access to the peer review questions before the draft was due.  I was personally pretty rushed for time in writing my draft, but I tried to adhere to the prompt (what I understood of it) as much as possible before uploading my paper so that I could have a productive response session with my group members.  Then, when I read the questions we had to answer about our peers' papers, I realized I had missed some key things, or misinterpreted some things.  So I felt super awkward that I had already submitted a paper that sort of missed the mark in some aspects.

Anyway, as I assessed my peers, I spent a lot of time working on the assessments (and Erin suggested that we use the Word comment function, which I think was useful in terms of pointing out particular areas specifically) and tried hard to be very precise in my assessment.  I felt then that I might come off as seeming a bit superior, which can certainly be the tendency in an online setting (things get misinterpreted all the time).

I was then conflicted because both of my other peers had approached their papers in very different ways from me, so it seemed like we all had conflicting interpretations of what the others ought to have written.  I got two reviews that advised me in completely opposite directions, and while I submitted mine pretty early in the discussion to perhaps facilitate a dialogue, they were both submitted later on the day it was due, and because of other obligations I was not able to read them until the forum was closed.

I did like the idea of possibly having a longer discussion period, however I question whether this would actually work.  I am taking all online classes, and in nearly every one of those classes, the tendency for most of the students is to wait until the day the assignment is due to post.  This is so incredibly frustrating as discussions are expected to emerge, and most often the reason I submit so early is because the ends of my weeks are usually busy with work and other homework items, thus forcing me to do my homework early or not at all.  I always hope that an early post will provoke others into doing the same, but I think a lot of times it just comes off as being overzealous (though I just want to be a good student)...

What I was thinking in relation to a longer discussion period is that it might be helpful to have a discussion forum that remains open after the assignment is due, just so students are able to have further communication all in the same place if there are questions or comments they would like to make.  Switching over to e-mail is currently an option, but a hassle since all the prior dialogue is located on the forum.

Also, just a question: are we going to be given professorial feedback on our rough drafts, or are we to focus solely on our peer assessments?  I don't really have an expectation either way, I am just curious.  I am honestly not sure what I am going to do with my peer assessment info.  There was one that pointed out flaws, but did not offer solutions, and one that gave ideas for change, but using that info would mean a substantial revision of my paper.  I know I had my own ideas for revision prior to receiving the assessments... I am also going to give my paper to my boyfriend, who has been talking me through this situation (as it left me a bit distraught) and is rather proficient at academic papers, just to see how his assessment meshes with those of my peers.

An issue that I had was that I did not want to cite the paper incessantly throughout my whole paper.  I felt that I summarized the two articles thoroughly, using citations as I thought appropriate, and then in my analysis portion I expanded upon the areas which I had already cited in the summaries.  I did not want to re-cite the quotes I had already used, because I felt that was redundant, but somehow that led to no citations through my analysis, which I am sure was not the intention of the assignment.  I also did not just want to regurgitate the two articles (B and Gere) in a juxtaposed setting; I wanted to take their ideas and make connections that were applicable outside of what they were saying.  They did not state many solutions to the problems they identified, so I wanted to combine their arguments to create a solution that was not already stated in the articles.