Online Course Peer Review

Journal article reports have proven to be one of the most successful activities I’ve required of my students.  When I first started teaching online, I knew I wanted to incorporate library research somehow, but wasn’t sure just how to go about it.  One of LSC’s librarians, Connie Moeller, encouraged me to have students search for journal articles using the library databases.  Doing this required students to get a library barcode, learn how to navigate LSC’s online library resources, and recognize the difference between regular old periodicals, such as magazines and newspapers, and refereed journals. 

Once requiring this task, it quickly became clear that I needed students to have journal articles okayed by me before starting the writing process.  Too many students mistakenly believed they had followed my instructions perfectly and articles from ”journals” such as Ladies Home Journal (I’m not kidding) and The Business Journal were being selected.

Unlike most other class activities, students post their journal article reports to a forum on the class discussion board.  The last task of this assignment is to read a minimum of three of their classmates’ reports and provide specific feedback (constructive criticism, something learned, etc.).  Students are also responsible for replying to any questions their classmates might have posed about their articles.  This portion of the activity has resulted in outstanding dialogue between students — and they enjoy it.

The reason this class activity works so well with students is probably because they have the freedom to choose the topic of their journal articles.  Students in my personal wellness class have written about everything from environmental to spiritual wellness.  When they have a true interest in a topic, their work usually shines!