In Fall 2018, 281 students in an Introductory Biology course at the University of California Santa Barbara were assigned two writing-to-learn peer learning activities in Eli Review. Faculty members Mike Wilton, Eduardo Gonzalez, and Rolf Christofferson developed the prompts initially as part of the NSF-sponsored STEMWrite Institute. They then refined the prompts as part of the UCSB Write-Learn Initiative sponsored by UCSB’s Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (citral.ucsb.edu); Wilton and Gonzalez taught the course.
Students completing both peer learning activities were more likely than other students to answer the relevant exam questions accurately, resulting in a 5 point gain on the final exam.
The galleries below show the two peer feedback assignments which are also accessible as full-screen images:
For more information about the course, tasks, and results, read the complete blog post.
