Break large assignments down into smaller activities
Cumulative assignments can be broken down into smaller segments of peer evaluation. This process is known as scaffolding and will ultimately help your students produce a higher quality final assignment.
Start by segmenting the steps necessary to creating the final assignment, and creating activities for each portion. For example, in a research paper, assign:
- One activity in which the student presents their hypothesis
- One activity in which the student presents their data collection methodology
- One activity in which the student presents their findings and discussions
Benefits: By dividing up final assignments into more digestible activities, students will receive rich feedback for every portion of their assignment, over the course of the term. Not only does this help them with content creation, but it also helps them stay afloat in terms of making finalassignment deadlines.
Turn readings into engaging material
Students absorb an abundance of content through weekly readings, but they cannot fully exercise this until class or during their exams. You can transform this into opportunities for students to retain this information and extend their learning through peer evaluations.
Per each weekly reading, you can assign quick, frequent activities such as:
- Creating a question based on the reading materials
- Sharing notes and comments made on the readings
- Teaching the readings in a creative way
- Answering thought/discussion provoking questions
- Creating a video explaining the contents of the reading
Benefits: Giving students activities that are relevant to assigned readings increases content retention by also enabling students to immediately apply concepts that they have learned. Open discussions and questions about the readings are now also established, therefore adding more depth to the content assigned. This method capitalizes on enriching pre-existing content.
Homework questions and problem sets
Homework questions are also a great repository for peer evaluation content. Not only can students evaluate solutions to questions, but they can also investigate and build on their peer’s thought process.
Assign activities per set of homework questions, and ask students to clearly outline their thought processes, formulas, and diagrams for peer review. Be sure to share solutions to the questions with the class as soon the deadline is terminated.
Benefits: This method is a great example of automated grading and feedback. When students are given the solution to a problem set, as well as visibility into the deliberation by their peers, they are equipped with the ultimate tools for peer evaluation. Homework questions are typically straightforward, therefore leaving very little room for student error or misjudgment.
Labs and in-class activities
In-class teaching methods are easily transferable to Kritik. The beauty of using Kritik for labs and in-class activities is that you can reap the benefits of the concise timing of the activity scheduler, and prolong the discussion far after class time. Check out how Dr. Patricia Chow-Fraser from McMaster University conducts labs online through Kritik!
Set the deadline for creation shortly after the lab or in-class activity is done. The creation phase can be used to submit lab results or findings done in class. The evaluation and feedback stage are used as a discussion board for the different conclusions that your students have made through their findings.
Benefits: The instructions of labs and in-class methods are consistent among all students who have attended. As a result, students can share and compare the thoughts and outcomes that were produced in the same session. This allows for them to gather the bigger picture, rather than focusing on a singular experience.
Kritik offers four activity templates that are explicitly designed with the structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These are only suggestive templates, and may be customized. Each template accompanied with sample instructions, objectives and rubrics.
Our activity templates focus on three highest levels of cogitative thinking from Bloom's Taxonomy; Analysis, Evaluation, and Creation
1. Create question
This template asks students to formulate a higher order thinking question based on reading comprehension. This activity aims to evaluate the question’s Richness, Complexity, Scope, and Relevance.
2. Create an essay
This template prompts students to write an argumentative essay based on a controversial opinion/subject. The rubric criteria includes: Clarity of Thoughts, Accuracy, Creative and Critical Thinking, Source and Evidence.
3. Create content to teach peers
Students are asked to teach content to their peers in a way that promotes higher content retention among their peers. Students are evaluated based on Organization, Relevance, Clarity, and Knowledge of Content.
4. Creative communication
This template asks students to communicate course content in a creative way, (i.e. through illustration, info graphic item, summary table, short video, animation, or anything that will help convey the message faster or make it more engaging than the plain text). Students are evaluated by Organization, Knowledge, Text and Readability, Creativity and Visual Aids.