Enhancing learning at scale with FeedbackFruits: A case study from BUSMGT 708

Curious about FeedbackFruits? See how a colleague is using the technology to manage feedback, peer review, and teamwork.

Assessment design

Students worked in several streams over five weeks, providing peer feedback (9% of the total mark) while also focusing on their own visualisation creation (24%), critique (12%), and improvement. The process continued over weeks 6–9 (15%), culminating in a final infographic project (30%). Seven lab exercises made up the remaining 10% of the total.

The solution

Andrew used the integrated FeedbackFruits’ Peer Review tool in Canvas to foster continuous skills practise through peer-driven assessment feedback. With this approach, Andrew provided a rubric for students to weekly review and mark each other’s work, resulting in approximately 2,000 peer reviews over the teaching quarter—an amount of work that would be impossible for teaching staff alone to handle.

Implementation

• Task setup
  Students were given clear guidelines on the expected amount of time they should spend on the review tasks. E.g., typically, no more than 30 minutes per week peer-reviewing their classmates’ work.
• Anonymity
  Reviews were anonymised to ensure unbiased feedback.
• Communication
  Andrew emphasised upfront the experimental nature of the use of FeedbackFruits—which at the time was being piloted at the University—while also highlighting its benefits for enhancing learning outcomes.

Variations and insights

Andrew experimented with different peer review structures, finding that the combination of self-review and peer review was the most effective, as it balanced self-assessment with external feedback. Asking students to evaluate the reviews of their work by others was quickly found to be less helpful as expected; some students fixated on the grade given rather than the feedback provided.

Key takeaways

• Emotional intelligence
  Sensitivity to peer feedback was crucial. Andrew noted the importance of fostering emotional intelligence and resilience among students as he had to tackle a few cases of ‘reported comments’ by students.
• Student forgiveness
  Transparency about initial mistakes (e.g., Andrew’s initial failure to anonymise reviews) helped build trust. Andrew found that acknowledging these ‘learning moments’ made students more forgiving.
• Helpful resources
  Andrew found user cases on FeedbackFruits’ official website valuable for guidance.

Outcomes

• Improved learning
  Andrew noted improved student engagement and learning outcomes.
• Sustainable practice
  The initial time investment in setting up the tool paid off, as activities can now be reused in subsequent quarters.

Do you have any comments or feedback? Perhaps you want to share your own experience with FeedbackFruits? If so, please drop us a line. Email: teachwell@auckland.ac.nz