Using an Online Discussion Board for Peer Review of Dissertation Writing For Ed.D. Students

Abstract

To improve graduation rates in doctoral programs, the Council of Graduate Schools has recommended more supports for dissertation writing. This article describes and evaluates through action research one such support, an online discussion board where students could post drafts of their dissertation and peer review each other's work. Results of effectiveness were mixed because of the wide spectrum of student participation. Students did not feel they had the expertise to critically read another's work, although they liked reading the instructor's comments to other students. Future implementation of the discussion board might be more successful if it was utilized as a support group or frequently asked questions page rather than a place for peer review or if it was utilized for excerpts from the dissertation rather than entire chapters. Faculty involved with supervising doctoral students should consider what supports are being offered and continue to evaluate their effectiveness.

The Development of Students' Assessment Literacies as They Transition to University: An Exploratory Case Study

“…Based on their research with first-year mathematics students, Kajander and Lovric (2005) developed a review manual for incoming students and redesigned the first-year Calculus course. Kania-Gosche (2009) found that the first-year university students she interviewed about differences between high school and university writing assessment similarly reported a lack of preparedness for university writing based on the writing they were taught for college admission and state exams and the five-paragraph essay format (e.g., Feak, 2019;Pessoa & Mitchell, 2019). Johnston et al (2022) investigated differences in how classroom-based assessment and external high-stakes standardized exams prepared high school students for university-level assessment in different disciplines.…”

“…Students transitioning into university will experience changes from what they experienced in high school. For example, previous research has reported on changes in the level of autonomy needed (a student's ability to drive their own learning; Holec, 1981) (Garrigan, 1997;Henri et al, 2018), the volume and nature of content they have to learn (e.g., Denison, 1999;Kajander & Lovric, 2005), and academic writing expectations (Kania-Gosche, 2009;Skinner, 2014). There are also changes with assessment, including the types of assessments students may encounter, their weighting or contribution towards final grades (e.g., Denison, 1999;Wilson et al, 2017), and the nature and amount of feedback received (e.g., Bols, 2012;Adams & McNab, 2013).…”