COWL Pilots in Economics

• These slides contain tips on using the COWL site for peer review

• Peer review means giving and receiving feedback on draft assignments

• Usually, students review a peer’s draft face-to-face

• We are piloting COWL as an online environment for peer review

Please remember that you are taking part in a pilot, so we are all learning about online peer review together

Prior to the workshop

• We hope that students will have uploaded draft coursework assignments to COWL in advance

• If this has not happened there is a back-up plan

• You will receive a sample hard copy coursework draft, which students can annotate using a pen if any problems arise – please ask them to go into detail and add a comment as feedback

The rationale

• The aim of this online peer review opportunity is to develop critical thinking skills and help everyone become more scholarly writers

• CAW staff are present to help everyone identify areas to comment on in the draft assignments

• CAW staff will also help out as you use the online system

In the workshop

• Check your University email account for an email from COWL and click on the link to the COWL site in the email

• If you do not find an email from COWL, go directly to COWL: http://cowl.coventry.ac.uk

• Input your Coventry University username and password (see the next slide)

Giving feedback to a peer

• Once inside the COWL site, select ‘COWL Home’

• You should have been allocated a draft to give feedback on

• Gain access to the document by selecting the ID number (see next slide)

• Read the initial question posed by the person who wrote the document

• Click on the file name once and open the Word document (see next slide)

• A new window should open as a Word document

• In the COWL site, click on ‘feedback’ (see the next slide)

• Then click on ‘add feedback’ (see the next slide)

• Cut and past sections of the coursework into the first box to comment in detail and show how the language could be improved

• Use the highlighter options etc. for emphasis • Give general comments to the writer in the

second box• Select ‘insert’ to submit your feedback

• Click on ‘alert writer of new feedback’ then ‘OK’• Click on ‘log out’

• Then, log into COWL again to view the feedback you have received

Receiving feedback

• To collect your feedback, go to COWL home and click on the ID number beside your name

• Under ‘feedback’, read the comments and incorporate them into your revisions before submitting your coursework

Tips on peer review

• All professional writers submit their drafts for comments before publication

• It is hard to do justice to your ideas if you do not seek and obtain feedback before submitting work for assessment

Where to focus?

• You can start with the contents, or the form of a document when you are reviewing it

• Both are important!

Giving feedback to other writers

• Does the draft fulfil the requirements of the brief?

• Is the draft well organised?• Are the paragraphs well structured?• Are the sentences clear and grammatically

correct?• Is the language formal?

Be constructive

• Treat other writers as you wish to be treated

• Make at least one positive comment, e.g. ‘I really like the clarity of your written style!’’

• Consider your phrasing and be friendly

A recommended book about writing

• Creme, P. and Lea, M. R. (2000) Writing at University: A Guide for Students. Buckingham: Open University Press

• This book is available 2nd hand for £4 via Amazon books:

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0335213251/ref=sr_1_olp_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255293264&sr=1-2

What to do if you wish to upload documents to COWL

• Save your coursework assignment to the desktop

• Go online to COWL: http://cowl.coventry.ac.uk • Input your Coventry University username and

password• Click on ‘New Tutorial’ • Browse for the Word document containing your

coursework• Upload this to COWL (see next slides)

• Under ‘initial question’ write a short message asking for feedback on specific areas such as language, organisation, ideas, etc.

• Select ‘next’ to submit the message (see the next slide)

• Tick the box to remain anonymous• Select ‘finish’ • Note that you can only upload a document once

(re-name it if you want to re-submit)• Select ‘log out’ to complete the submission (see

the next slide)

Thank you for taking part!

Where to access the handouts on using COWL

• COWL Moodle module web for copies of all handouts on using COWL:

• http://e-learning.coventry.ac.uk/cuddle/my/