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Individual peerScholar Assignment - May 11 - June 3 2015 (phase 5 - completion)
--> On May 10 teachers will receive an email with the peerScholar usernames and passwords for their students.
--> Go to: https://login.peerscholar.com/ and use the usernames and passwords you received.
All students of your Learning Circle group will make an individual assignment.
We will use the process of peer learning by giving and receiving feedback to/from three peers, your global classmates.
What will we do?
In this assignment we request each student in the Circle to write a paper to UNICEF.
By giving and receiving feedback to and from three peers we ask each student to critically think and learn together.
Why will we do it?
Collaborative learning in a Learning Circle allows students to learn and work together; the diversity in their countries and backgrounds creates a rich learning environment.
To end a circle with a regular test, in a closed classroom setting, would take away the global dimension of your amazing work in the past 13 weeks.
Supported by the University of Toronto, we are offering a new way of assessment, based upon peer assessment and the main idea that also during the assess phase students continue to grow and learn together.
The tool we will be using is called peerScholar - We are thrilled to be able to invite you in this global classroom assignment!
What is peerScholar?
peerScholar is an innovative on-line pedagogical tool that supports students’ collaboration, learning and reflection.
peerScholar facilitates learning through 3 phases;
- Create
- Assess
- Reflect/revise
Students first submit their assignment, then they give feedback to their peers work, and finally they reflect on and learn from the peer feedback that they received.
How will we do it?
peerScholar is an on-line web based tool that works best in the following browsers: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox.
This clip explains more about peerScholar:
The Assignment.
Call for Papers - International Conference 25 Years CRC
On November 20th 2014 the World celebrated the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). UNICEF has opened a ‘Call for Papers’ to invite youth to propose one extra Child’s Right to be added to the present Convention. During the 12 weeks of your circle participation you have seen a lot of information about the present Children's Rights and how the world is dealing with it. We ask you to write a paper (1A4/500 words) to UNICEF in which you include:
-
A brief personal introduction
-
Your lessons learned and eye-openers during the Learning Circle process
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Your own, new, to be added, Child Right and your motivation why you think this specific Right needs to be highlighted.
Instructions and tips
- During the first phase, from May 11-20, you will write your paper.
- During phase 2, the assess phase, from May 21-27, you are invited to give feedback on the work of three of your global Circle classmates.
- In phase 3, from May 28- June 3, you will receive and read feedback from three global Circle peers, after which you can revise your work and benefit from your peers suggestions.
Place yourself in the position of the UNICEF committee; they will receive thousands of papers. What can you do to make your paper ‘out standing’?
How we will work in peerScholar:
To access peerScholar please go to https://login.peerscholar.com
Then you will see the login screen:
Please enter the login as sent to you by email; each student will have an individual login username and password.
Once you passed the login, please ask your students to select your class: ENGLISH. (don't add a class!!)
1. The Create Phase:
Now the assignment will appear and the first (create) phase is already green (starts on May 11 and ends on May 20)
Ask your students to click on the green Create part and the assignment will open.
Read the assignment and instructions carefully and click at the bottom of the page on 'save & next'
Now your students can create their individual paper / letter for UNICEF.
When the work is done and their letter is written, please click at the bottom of the page on 'save & next'.
The create phase closes on May 20
Remember to click on <save & next> at the end of each step!!
2. The Assess Phase:
This phase opens on May 21 . When the students login again (with the same login name and password) they click on the green Assess phase and they will see two randomly selected and anonymously presented peer papers. Their primary task is to give feedback on their peers work. Both by in-line comments and positive and constructive feedback
Students are requested to complete their assessments by May 27.
After reading the instructions and tips click on <save and next>
Now students can give feedback to the work of three peers from the other schools, the assess phase closes on May 27 .
3. The Reflect/Revise Phase:
Once the phase opens (green), on Thursday morning May 28, students now see the feedback from their peers provided on their draft paper.
After reading their peers feedback carefully, each student will indicate how useful the feedback was. They will use it to revise and improve their original submission.
As a final step students will be asked to write a short reflection, to justify how and why they revised their work in the light of comments received.
Same procedure, instructions and tips (save) --> review feedback (continue) --> revise my own work (save) --> reflect on my own learning.
REMARK:
---> In Phase 1 (Create) 234 students have written a letter to UNICEF.
---> In Phase 2 (Assess) 163 students gave feedback to three Circle classmates.
Because not all students completed this phase, most students will see not three, but two peer reviews in phase 3
(as some of the feedback given has been linked to the 71 students that didn't finish phase two).
When will we do it?
The schools in the Learning Circles are spread over 9 time zone's.
We have created the assignment based upon the Dutch/Hungary time.
To find the time of the assignment in your country plus / minus the hours:
Canada is - 6 hrs. / Curacao is -6 hrs. / Suriname - 5 hrs. / Lebanon +1 hrs. / Ukraine +1 hrs. / Romania +1 hrs.
Phase 1 - each student creates a paper in peerScholar
- Opens May 11 - 00:05 am
- Closes May 20 - 23:55 pm
Phase 2 - peer feedback on the work of two other peers
- Opens May 21 - 00:05 am
- Closes May 27 - 23:55 pm
Phase 3 - receive feedback from two peers and review your own work
- Opens May 28 - 00:05 am
- Closes June 3 - 23:55 pm
Teachers.
At any moment teachers can look into all 3 phases of the assignment and follow their students progress.
Simply go to http://login.peerscholar.com --> login with your teacher login name and password
--> select your LC class
--> click on < STUDENT PROGRESS > to see where your students are