y Friday's class, we would have all posted our assignments on a particular bulletin board in the classroom. We did not put our names on them, but the illusion of anonymity was temporary and only needed at the beginning. Once we'd been through the process a couple of times, we didn't mind going through it. By the end of the semester, we could all recognize styles of the different students anyway.
When we met on Friday, we would look at each of them in turn. For each assignment, we would give positive comments and suggestions for improvement.
"I really like this color scheme."
"I think that a slightly lighter line here would help put this border where it belongs in the hierarchy of information."
When we were done with our feedback for each piece, the professor would give some feedback. He was, perhaps, the most important peer. But it was the peer feedback that motivated us to put so much work into our maps and images. Disabling the usual grade mechanism is part of what made this work.
I love this.
My DD is already too psychologically dependent on grades. She loves seeing that 100 at the top of everything--and (unfortunately, in a way) it is pretty much all she ever sees. She has this beautiful internal drive that is being twisted and crippled by external evaluation already.
