iParadigms Updates Peer Review App

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/04/09

iParadigms has announced an update for its peer review Web service. Formerly known as Peer Review, the new release, named PeerMark, lets instructors create and manage assignments in which students read and provide comments on each others' work.

Faculty use a Web interface to set up assignments, provide structured guidance, and monitor the results with minimal effort. Students upload, review, and comment on each other's papers, prompted by instructor-supplied questions and guidelines.

The update provides integration with major course management systems, including Blackboard and Moodle. It also offers palette-based markup and editing tools. The initial release of the new version, expected out in January 2010, will be available in English and Spanish.

PeerMark is a component of the Turnitin WriteCycle collaborative writing suite, which includes GradeMark for digital markup and grading and Turnitin Originality Checking, which checks documents for plagiarism.

"PeerMark is the most powerful and complete peer review system we've ever developed," said John Barrie, the company's product strategist. "It delivers all the benefits of peer collaboration without the paper-and-pen hassles. It makes peer review practical and efficient for even the largest classes with hundreds or thousands of students, and it gives a big boost to teacher productivity in an era of increasing class sizes."