Documentation:PeerWise start guide

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PeerWise startup guide

FAQ

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Squarefaq.png General Information

What is PeerWise?

PeerWise is an online system where students create questions related to a course and answer questions written by their peers.

What is the goal of PeerWise?

The goal of PeerWise is to help students build a better understanding of a subject as well as test their knowledge by answering questions.

Who uses PeerWise?

Currently, many colleges and universities across the globe are using PeerWise. It is being used in courses of all subjects, from music courses to science courses.

Who using PeerWise at UBC?

There are several departments here at UBC using PeerWise, which include physics......(What else?)

How is PeerWise effective?

To ensure PeerWise is an effective method of learning for students, it is important to teach the students how to create and analyze good questions. The better questions the students learn to write the more they will hopefully learn.

How to write a good question?

Good questions are not easy to write. PeerWise questions are comprised of three components: the question, the answer choices and the explanation. All of these need to be strong in oder to make a good question that will score well on PeerWise.

  • The question: Should be an original question that the students make up. A lot of good questions come from their life experiences, movies. Try to avoid students using text book questions. There are three types of questions, easy, challenging and beyond the scope of their knowledge. The students should aim to ask question just above their level of knowledge. This will test their knowledge as well as the other students answering the question.

More.... Examples...

  • Answer choices: The selection of answer choices is very important because you don’t want to give away the correct answer without making the other students work for it. All answers should be in the same form, (example: same units, same number of decimals, all equation, etc.) Also important to make sure the question stem does not give away the correct answer choice. Want the choices to contain common misconceptions the students are likely to struggle with.

More.... Examples...


  • Explanation: The explanation should be a full solution to the question asked. Math worked out where necessary and clear descriptions of the concepts. It is also good to include explanation for why the other choices are incorrect. Clearly explaining all the answer choices will not only help the students answering the question, but also the author. The author will hopefully also generate better distractors as they reason through why they chose them.

More.... Examples...

Who do I contact to get access?

(link to PeerWise community webpage, other page with contact info.)

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Squarefaq.png Using PeerWise in the Classroom

How to write a good question?

Squarefaq.png Getting to know the PeerWise Online System

Setting up a course

Getting students set up

Cool features for students

Cool features for instructors

PeerWise community

There is a PeerWise community website where you can find more information about PeerWise, including publications, helpful videos, forums, and additional information.

http://www.peerwise-community.org/

Publications

There are many publications from other institutions who have used PeerWise or other forms of peer activity in courses. By following the link you will find a list to all of the publications.

http://www.peerwise-community.org/publications/

Resources for instructors and students

The PeerWise community website offers instructional videos for both instructors and students. There are videos from how to sign up for PeerWise to how to write good questions.

http://www.peerwise-community.org/resources/

People to contact

If you have additional questions please following the link to the contact page on the PeerWise community webpage.

http://www.peerwise-community.org/about/contact-us/


Squarefaq.png Examples of Course Material

Introduction Handout for Students

Scaffolding Worksheet

Examples of TA slides