I have learned a lot from ES1102. Some of these newly acquired skills includes organisation of text and looking out for grammar mistakes. The ' Peer and Tutor Feedback' is a new style of learning that was introduced in the module, something I have never before. It involves commenting our course mate's work, giving them both positive and negative feedback in an attempt to improve both our writing skills.
Throughout the whole process, I felt that it was test of my writing skill when I was tasked to give feedback to my peers. It was disheartening to see the negative feedback my peers gave me, but I learned from such mistakes and feedback. However, there were times when I felt that there was a limitation to how I could improve from this system. Firstly, I believed that I was not good enough to edit a fellow course mate's work. There was a reason I was taking this module after all. I could only look out for simple mistakes there were glaring. Otherwise when I was uncertain, all I could do was to point it out or to ignore it completely. Also, on rare occasions, I felt that commenting was troublesome, and sometimes the feedback i gave was half-hearted. I doubt anything efficient would come out from such feedback.
I believe that the main flaw of the system is the students may not feel confident enough and will find it difficult to provide feedback. Even if they do, their feedback may be wrong and it would instead sabotage the learning of both parties. However, this could actually be an incentive for students to improve their writing skills, as the result of their fellow course mate would affected by how much they could improve.
I believe that the skill i have gain from this module will help me greatly in my future endeavors. I can now paraphrase and summarize text more efficiently. I can also edit my own writing, and this will be useful in my future writings in my engineering course. I will continue to read up on more text to improve my vocabulary, but also at the same time study how to form grammatically correct sentences.
Thanks, Teck Yi, for this honest, well focused reflection. You contextualize the peer feedback within the course well. You then focus the discussion on the value of the peer feedback, expressing your opinion with clarity. Like other students, you have doubts about your peers' ability to critique your writing, and you the skill to assess theirs. This is normal, of course, since, as you mention: "There was a reason I was taking this module after all."
ReplyDeleteIn fact, what may be most useful in the review process seems to be the idea that you capture here: “...this could actually be an incentive for students to improve their writing skills, as the result of their fellow course mate (would) BEING affected by how much they could improve." In short, you gain by doing the process more so than by the actual 'marking' of errors. This is a good insight.
I also appreciate the attention you give to how skills learned in ES1102 might be helpful in your writing beyond the course.
For now, I wish you the best of luck, Teck Yi, as you continue your learning journey!