Enhancing Critical Reading and Writing through Peer Reviews: An Exploration of Assisted Performance.

Using a Web-based, conferencing system, we required students to electronically post draft answers to take-home essay questions. Students then produced peer reviews of each other's answers. Regression analyses indicated that the higher the quality of the review students gave their peers, the higher their own grades for revised essays. The pedagogical structuring of this activity draws heavily on the theoretical concept of 'scaffolding' or 'assisted performance'

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