How do I manage an Automatically Assigned Peer Review assignment?

Setup your Peer Review Assignment to Automatically Assigned Peer Reviews (Example:)

1- If you want Canvas to automatically (and randomly) assign peer reviews, select "Automatically Assign Peer reviews". When this is selected, an extension to this panel opens

2- Set the number of peer reviews you would like each student to complete.

3- Set the date and time you would like students to begin to have access to other students submissions for them to peer review. If you leave this box blank, students will be able to begin peer reviewing on the "Due" date for the assignment.

Note: Canvas will assign peer reviews at the date and time set (or the default Due Date) to only those students that have submitted the assignment. Students that do not submit the assignment or submit after the assigned date (or default Due Date) will not be assigned as peer reviewers. It is good practice to allow some "wiggle room" by setting the "Assign Reviews" date/time some hours after the "Due" date/time to allow for late submissions.

After Saving (or Save and Publishing), Click on the name of the Assignment, then click "Peer Reviews"

Note that until the Assigned Reviews date/time (or the default "Due" date/time), Canvas will not assign peer reviews

Once the Assigned Reviews date/time (or the default "Due" date/time) has passed, Canvas assigns the Student Reviews

Student Peer Reviewers access their assigned peer reviews by clicking on the assignment then clicking on the name of the student they are assigned to review.

Example: Jack Does was automatically assigned to peer review Jill Doe

Student Reviewer's View of Peer Review:

1- Student can download the other student's submission

2- Student can click on "View Feedback", which opens the Canvas document viewer and can view and annotate the other student's submission (Note: The Canvas document viewer and annotation tool is not available for anonymous peer reviews)

3- Student can leave a comment for the other student

4- Student can attach a file as part of the peer review

5- Student can create and post a webcam video as part of the peer review

6- Comments (written or webcam) must be saved

Instructor's  View of Peer Reviews

Example: Jane Doe's Peer Review of Jack Doe's submission

The reviewed student's  view of their Peer Review (Jack's View of Jane's peer review)

Student clicks on Assignment / "Submission Details" to see their review.

1- Reviewed student can see reviewer's annotation by clicking on "View Feedback"

2- Reviewed student can see reviewer's comments

Instructor's SpeedGrader view of assignment submission and Peer Review

Some Important considerations when using an Automatically Assigned Peer Review Assignment:

  • When a peer review has been assigned (on the Assigned or Due date/time), students can view a notification in their Dashboard "To Do" sidebar or Activity Stream. Students will also receive an email notification.
  • To complete a peer review, students must review the assignment and leave a comment on the submission details page
  • Students cannot view previously submitted comments by any other reviewers or comments made by TAs or other instructors.
  • You can also assign a rubric to the assignment. If the assignment includes a rubric, students must only complete the rubric to complete the peer review. However, you can choose to ask your students to also leave a comment in the comment sidebar. The rubric score is used for an assessment opinion only; you must review the assignment and assign the final grade.
  • Students do not receive a grade for completing a peer review, nor is there an assigned Due date for the peer review to be completed. If you want to assign extra points for peer reviews, you can create a No Submission assignment in the Gradebook and assign points manually. The Peer Review page for the assignment will show the names of students who have completed the peer review indicated by a check-mark.

Automatically Assigned Anonymous Peer Reviews

As part of creating a peer review, the anonymous option allows you to hide the name of the student reviewer from the student with the submission. The reviewer cannot see the name of the assigned person whose work is to be reviewed, and the student who submitted the assignment cannot view names associated with any comments.

Automatically assign peer reviews the same as non-anonymous peer review

Students, however, cannot see the name of the person they are assigned to peer review

If you are using anonymous peer reviews, remind students not to name their submitted files with their name or indicate their name in the body of the submission document.

Students cannot see the name of the person that reviewed them

Instructors can see the name of the reviewer in the SpeedGrader.

Some important considerations when using manually assigned anonymous peer reviews

  • Email notifications sent to students about peer reviews are anonymous. Student reviewers cannot view the name of the person whose work they are reviewing.
  • Once a peer review has been assigned, the viewing setting cannot be changed. For instance, a regular peer review cannot later be made anonymous, and appear anonymous, unless the peer review is deleted and re-assigned.
  • Canvas DocViewer does not support anonymous comments, so it cannot be used for annotated feedback on assignments with anonymous peer reviews.
  • When anonymous peer reviews are enabled, you and your TAs can still view the names of student reviewers in SpeedGrader and in the student submission page.