Culture of Critique: Online Learning Circles and Peer Reviews in Graduate Education

In this chapter, we explore a strategy, “online learning circles,” for helping students develop their own authority and trust in evaluating research and a respect for the authority of their peers. Our goal is to examine this online collaborative structure and its ability to foster a culture of constructive critique in graduate-school education. The data we analyze includes peer-review messages and survey responses. Student message data are coded for type and quality of peer review. The survey data is used to understand the students’ perspective about their experience in learning circles and their judgment of the quality of feedback they offered and 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB12490 INFORMATION SCIENCE PUBLISHING This chapter appears in the book, Self, Peer, and Group Assessment in E-Learning edited by Tim S. Roberts © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Culture of Critique 143 Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. received from their peers. This research addresses two important issues. First, it evaluates a structure, learning circles for group work in graduate online education; and second, it explores the type and form of peer feedback from within this collaborative structure. Learning circles did provide a structure for peer review but there are reservations and issues involved in helping students to develop the trust needed to work together effectively. The second issue revolves around authority in the process of peer review. Under what conditions are students willing to be critical and to accept criticism from their peers as legitimate? To do this involves a process of reacculturation that is difficult to create in courses of limited duration but may be one argument for the advantages of creating a cohort model of education in either on-campus or online programs of study.