Moodle Workshop activities support peer review in Year 1 Science

Present and future

Abstract

Compulsory Science Faculty (SCIF) courses in various programs of study serve to provide students with a sense of belonging within their own cohort and with their professional future, as well as developing a range of skills relevant to that future. These aims are supported through completion of assessment tasks, which in turn are supported through the use of the Moodle learning management system. Specifically, the Workshop tool facilitates the practice of peer review, one of the processes in the course not only relevant to professional practice in the sciences but supporting active learning among students through noticing aspects of a range of tasks in which they can improve. This paper describes the use of the Workshop tool in its original form as well as modifications developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to support the use of peer review and assessment processes associated with a range of assessment tasks.