In education, communication is one of the most important skills that teachers must use. Not only do they have to effectively teach their students, but they also have to talk with other teachers. Building relationships with fellow teachers allows you to work together on projects that would take twice as long otherwise. Others might have ideas that you wouldn’t think of, that greatly improve a lesson plan. Additionally, they can provide feedback using their own experiences. As Kristin Harrington states in Adventures in Authentic Learning, “Basically, by crowdsourcing the project planning with your personal learning network (PLN), you can free up time to spend on what really matters: your students,” (p. 74).

Collaboration is also an important skill for students to develop. Particularly the ability to review their peers’ work: effectively communicating problems and providing new ideas. Peer review can often be more impactful than teacher feedback, because students are inherently more invested in their peers’ opinions. Teaching students how to peer review will follow them as they grow older, as those communication skills are applicable not just in the workplace but daily life as well.

Digital environments may be better suited for peer review scenarios. They allow students time to reflect and give more honest feedback when compared to in-person conversations (p. 83).

While the idea of peer review may seem like it only applies to subjects like Language Arts or History, variations can be used in every classroom. Math students can create explanatory posters of a topic and ask each other if they’ve communicated the topic properly. Students in a science lab can draft experiment procedures and review them in groups.

For both students and teachers, communication is a crucial skill to learn. Applying personal experience, giving appropriate feedback, and contributing ideas are parts of peer review that are important on both sides of the classroom.

Harrington, K. (2020). Adventures in Authentic Learning (pp. 74-87). International Society for Technology in Education.