Collaborative Learning Through Formative Peer Review With Technology

Abstract

This paper describes a collaboration between a mathematician and a compositionist who developed a sequence of collaborative writing assignments for calculus. This sequence of developmentally appropriate assignments presents peer review as a collaborative process that promotes reflection, deepens understanding, and improves exposition. First, we distinguish writing-to-learn from writing-in-the-disciplines. Then, we review collaborative writing pedagogies and explain best practices for teaching peer review. Finally, we present an implementation plan and examples of student work that illustrate improved understanding of content and improved exposition.

Keywords:

• Calculus
• writing assignments
• peer review
• Google
• LaTeX
• collaboration

Notes

1. ¹For a thorough theoretical rationale of the value of collaboration, see Kenneth Bruffee’s 1984 article “Collaborative learning and the conversation of mankind” [5].

2. ²Joel A. English [11] and L. Lennie Irvin [15] explain the connections between metacognition, reflection, and computer-mediated writing.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carrie Diaz Eaton

Carrie Diaz Eaton received her BA in Mathematics and MA in Interdisciplinary Mathematics from the University of Maine and Ph.D. in Mathematics with a concentration in Mathematical Ecology and Evolutionary Theory from University of Tennessee. She then returned to Maine and is currently an Associate Professor of Mathematics in the Center for Biodiversity at Unity College. Her goal as a teacher is to get students to see math in the world around them and to use math as a tool to answer scientific questions. As her Twitter profile @mathprofcarrie says, Carrie has an interest in evolution, ecology, social systems modeling, cloud technology, and becoming a better teacher.

Stephanie Wade

Stephanie Wade earned a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University, a MA in English at the City College of New York, and a Ph.D. in English, with a concentration on composition studies, at Stony Brook University, in New York. Currently, as Director of Writing and Assistant Professor of Writing at Unity College she teaches writing and humanities classes that aim to help students see the choices available to them as writers, thinkers, and citizens.