LEARNING DYNAMICS OF THE PEER REVIEW: SOCIAL, COGNITIVE AND TEACHING ASPECTS

This study analyses the benefits and drawbacks of the Peer Review (PR) technique as a way to structure student interactions during an online collaborative activity. The interactions that took place during a real-life PR activity were analysed according to an evaluation model, based on both quantitative and qualitative data. The results show that the PR is able to stimulate a rich and balanced collaborative process from the cognitive point of view, fostering people to express personal opinions and views, but also helping to share, exchange and negotiate them with others. Among the downsides, this technique confirms itself as demanding in terms of teaching effort required to manage it. The two main phases of the PR are also analysed and compared, and the results show that there are significant differences concerning some indicators in the three dimensions.