Testimonials From Our Peer Learning Teaching & Learning Community

Faculty from Fall, 2020 comment on what they and their students gained by collaborating in our work with Eli Review.

We know that frequent feedback drives student learning. We also know that giving frequent and effective feedback takes a lot of our time. We know that students want and need helpful feedback. We have asked over 1,000 students at SFSU to tell us about their experiences with digital versus traditional peer feedback:

• 90% say that peer review activities in classes using Eli Review helped them to become better writers.

• Only 45% of these students found peer review activities in their previous courses useful.

Eli Review Is a Pedagogy, Not Just a Technology

Jeff Grabill, co-inventor of Eli Review writes that

Leveraging technology, Eli Review provides workflow and features that turn the traditional classroom into a studio where students can seamlessly collaborate with one another while the instructor can oversee rich and engaged peer learning. With an evidence-based technology and research-based teaching approach, Eli Review promotes critical thinking, helping students develop better writing skills.

Making Learning Visible

Students working with this digital platform benefit from task clarity. Deepika Ahuja (Biology) shares this student comment:

After Eli I feel like I have an understanding of what is exactly expected.

And students benefit from what they see, too. Aviva Sinervo (Psychology & Anthropology) writes that

Students are able to see sets of peer writing to use as models for their own work, to practice writing skills using instructor scaffolding and guidance, and to develop rhythms for revision that will benefit them as lifelong writers.

And students benefit from learning how to give helpful feedback. DJ Quinn (English) shares the comment from a first-year student who texted him to say that

my peers in other classes have started seeking me for feedback because my experience with Eli Review taught me how to be helpful.

A key feature afforded to us by Eli Review is how we can see our students thought processes while they work.

Joan Wong (English) says that

I appreciate how I am able to see my students' work in progress and I am able to intervene with lessons based on what I see.

Authentic Readers

Christopher Koenig (Communication Studies) concurs with this idea of de-centering the instructor

The tool has helped move evaluation away from me, as the instructor, to the students, who are a better representation of the general public as the actual audience for the blogs

Students Become Better Writers

Esther Chan (Composition for Multilingual Students) shares how at the start of the semester her students would not leave any feedback comments. After a group review session, the students learned to describe what they see, evaluate what they see according to the criteria, and make thoughtful suggestions. Some students wrote over 100 words in the next review—amazing output for multilingual learners.

Lifelong Learners

We strive to empower students with tools they will inform life-long learning. Kristin Agius (English) says,

My scaffolding (and the feedback I would give them on their essays) also tended towards teaching them how to write the essay the way I would do it. Eli Review helps me reach my goal of removing myself from the center of the classroom so that students’ voices are the center, which helps me reach a twin goal of creating a more equitable/socially just classroom with my students."

Indispensable To Professional Development

Jonathan Knight, (Biology) says that

"We struggled for years with various approaches before discovering Eli Review in Spring 2019. There's no going back. Partly this is because the app is an efficient tool for peer learning. But for me the real magic of Eli is the continuous professional development that engages writing instructors from across the campus."

For the last five years, our TLC has helped faculty build a culture of collaboration, mutual support and an equitable pedagogy that empowers students. Building a feedback-rich culture in our classes takes work and here at San Francisco State, a growing faculty cohort have been working with each other to empower students in our Peer Learning with Eli Review at San Francisco State Teaching & Learning Community. One of our participants, Hulya Gurtuna, (Sociology), looks forward to our weekly 1/2 hour Zoom meet-ups where our collective wisdom provides her with a steady-stream of ideas.