  Peer review is a widely utilized pedagogical feedback mechanism for engaging
students, which has been shown to improve educational outcomes. However, we
find limited discussion and empirical measurement of peer review in
visualization coursework. In addition to engagement, peer review provides
direct and diverse feedback and reinforces recently-learned course concepts
through critical evaluation of others' work. In this paper, we discuss the
construction and application of peer review in a computer science visualization
course, including: projects that reuse code and visualizations in a
feedback-guided, continual improvement process and a peer review rubric to
reinforce key course concepts. To measure the effectiveness of the approach, we
evaluate student projects, peer review text, and a post-course questionnaire
from 3 semesters of mixed undergraduate and graduate courses. The results
indicate that course concepts are reinforced with peer review---82% reported
learning more because of peer review, and 75% of students recommended
continuing it. Finally, we provide a road-map for adapting peer review to other
visualization courses to produce more highly engaged students.
