PeerMark - TurnItIn

What is PeerMark

PeerMark is a peer review assignment tool offered by Turnitin. It enables students to read, review, and evaluate each other's work and learn from peer feedback.

What is the purpose of PeerMark

Though Western’s license with Turnitin, all instructors and students have access to PeerMark. However, while some elements of Turnitin are integrated with OWL, PeerMark is not. This means that manual steps must be taken to get set up via the Turnitin Web App to set up your course and its roster and to import grades back into OWL.

How to use PeerMark

For information on how to use Peermark, please see TurnItIn

Where to find Support

This tool is centrally supported

Support

For help, you can contact the WTS Helpdesk

Tool Evaluation

Functionality overall rating: 3 starsFunctionality

Rating Rationale
Scale rating: 3 stars

Scale

PeerMark can be scaled to accommodate any size class with the flexibility to create smaller sub-groups or communities of practice
Ease of use rating:3 stars

Ease of Use

PeerMark has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and personalize
Tech Support/ Help Availability rating: 3 stars

Tech Support/Help Availability

In-person or email based technical support is readily available and aids users in troubleshooting tasks or solving problems experienced
Hypermediality rating: 3 stars

Hypermediality

PeerMark allows users to communicate through different channels (audio, visual, textual) and allows for non-sequential, flexible/adaptive engagement with material

Accessibility overall rating: 2 starsAccessibility

Rating Rationale
AODA Friendly rating: 2 stars

AODA Friendly

Some versions of Turnitin (e.g. LTI route) currently conform to W3C WCAG 2.0 standards for accessibility, while other versions (Turnitin Feedback Studio) are not yet fully compliant. Users may experience variability in the degree to which the tool supports accessibility needs. For more information see Turnitin’s Accessibility page
User Foused Participation rating: 3 stars

User-focused participation

PeerMark is designed to address the needs of diverse users, their various literacies, and capabilities, thereby widening opportunities for participation in learning
Required Equipment rating: 3 stars

Required Equipment

Proper use of PeerMark does not require equipment other than a computer and access to the internet

Technical overall rating: 1 starsTechnical

Rating Rationale
OWL Integration rating: 1 stars

OWL Integration

PeerMark can only be offered in OWL through a link or static representations of the tool (i.e. PDF), rather than a functional version of the tool itself
Operating Systems rating: 3 stars

Operating Systems

Users can effectively utilize the tool with any standard, up-to-date operating system (i.e. Windows 10, Apple OSX, etc.)
Web Browser rating: 3 stars

Web Browser

Users can effectively utilize the tool with any standard, up-to-date web browser (i.e. Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer 10 etc.)
Additional Tech Requirements rating: 3 stars

Additional Tech Requirements

Users can effectively utilize the tool without any browser extensions or downloaded software

Mobile Design overall rating: 1 star Mobile Design

Rating Rationale
Mobile Operating Systems rating: 3 stars

Mobile Operating Systems

PeerMark is fully functional with a range of electronic mobile devices (laptops, tablets, touchscreens, mobile devices, etc.)
Mobile Functionality rating: 3 stars

Mobile Functionality

There is little to no functional difference between the mobile web app and the main tool
Offline Access rating: 1 star

Offline Access

The PeerMark platform cannot be used in any capacity offline

Usage and account set up overall rating: 1 starsUsage and Account Set Up

Rating Rationale
Sign Up/Sign In rating: 1 stars

Sign Up/Sign In

PeerMark is included in Western’s Institutional license with the Turnitin Suite. This means that access is free of charge, however single sign-on with Western credentials is not supported. Accounts with the Turnitin web login must be set up manually for both instructors and students. For support with this please contact turnitin@uwo.ca .
Cost of Use rating: 3 stars

Cost of Use

All aspects of PeerMark can be used free of charge to Western account holders
Archiving Saving and Exporting Data rating: 3 star

Archiving, Saving, and Exporting Data

Users can archive, save, or import and export content or activity data in a variety of formats
Data Privacy and Ownership rating: 3 star

Data Privacy and Ownership

Users maintain ownership and copyright of their intellectual property/data; the user can keep data private and decide if/how data is to be shared

Social Presence overall rating: 2 starsSocial Presence

Rating Rationale
Collaboration rating: 3 stars

Collaboration

PeerMark has the capacity to support a community of learning through both asynchronous and synchronous opportunities for communication, interactivity, and transfer of meaning between users
User Accountability rating: 3 stars

User Accountability

Instructors can control student anonymity; PeerMark provides technical solutions for holding students accountable for their actions
Diffusion rating: 2 star

Diffusion

Student familiarity with PeerMark is likely mixed, some will lack basic technical competence with its functions

Instructor Presence overall rating: 3 starsInstructor Presence

Rating Rationale
Facilitation rating:3 stars

Facilitation

PeerMark has easy-to-use features that would significantly improve an instructor’s ability to be present with students via active management, monitoring, and engagement
Customization rating: 3 stars

Customization

PeerMark is adaptable to its environment: easily customized to suit the classroom context and targeted learning outcomes
Learning Analytics rating: 3 stars

Learning Analytics

Instructor can monitor students’ performance on a variety of responsive measures)

Cognitive Presence overall rating: 2 starsCognitive Presence

Rating Rationale
Enhancement of Cognitive Task(s) rating: 3 stars

Enhancement of Cognitive Task(s)

PeerMark enhances engagement in targeted cognitive task(s) that were once overly complex or inconceivable through other means
Higher Order Thinking rating: 2 stars

Higher Order Thinking

PeerMark may engage students in higher order thinking skills (given significant consideration to design, facilitation, and direction from instructor)
Feedback on Learning rating:3 stars

Feedback on Learning

Through PeerMark, students can regularly receive formative feedback on learning (i.e. they can track their performance, monitor their improvement, test their knowledge, etc.)

Security and Privacy

This tool has been formally reviewed by Western’s Technology Risk Assessment Committee

Security and Privacy Flags

Information Collection

  • Application collects information that could identify the user specifically (email address, class schedule, etc..)

EULA

  • Application's Terms of Conditions or End User License Agreement poses a risk of binding the institution to an agreement thereby requiring legal counsel to review the application. However, this is mitigated as it has undergone legal review during the Technology Risk Assessment process.

Integration

  • This application saves grading information independently from OWL
  • This application transmits data (grades, student data, etc...) to or from a Western system of record

Last Updated: September 16, 2020


Rubric

The eLearning Toolkit Evaluations are made available under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence

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Ratings icons are based off images made by authors on Freepik, Zurb, and Icomoon and licensed by CC BY 3.0