By Vincent Kovar

Vincent Kovar is a writer, instructor, editor, and entrepreneur based in Seattle, Washington. An Adjunct Faculty member with both Antioch University and the University of Phoenix, Vincent writes for the Education 3.0 blog at EarnMyDegree.com.

One of the biggest consumptions of teachers’ time is the correcting and grading of writing. As with all instruction, it is important to give the students the maximum amount of feedback but the process of evaluation should also provide a venue for the maximum amount of learning.

It also wouldn’t hurt if teachers didn’t kill themselves with the amount of time they have to put in marking up assignments.

If you’re leaving school even more tired than your students you may want to reconsider your methods. While teaching is tough work, learning should be even more exhausting. If you’re doing all the editing yourself, you are removing half the learning cycle.

Writing and evaluation are two sides of the same coin. To grow as writers, your students must learn to develop an editorial eye by continuously re-engaging each piece of text.

No one (not even famous writers), gets everything right the first time.

For your students to receive the maximum benefit from the writing process (and for you to retain some sense of sanity), peer editing should be an integral part of your instructional design.

To create an effective peer editing environment first you must create a rubric that targets the objectives for each assignment. This rubric may be based on the classic 6-traits: http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001707.shtml, but it should always include additional details and examples of both good and poor writing.

It’s helpful to include a list of the most common errors: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/easywriter3e/20errors/.

Provide plenty of room for positive comments and train your students in what positive, helpful (yet honest) feedback looks like. It’s also good idea to make these sheets a different color.

Then, have the class follow these four steps:

1. Have the students exchange papers and evaluate each other’s work using the colored rubric sheets. It is always hard to edit one’s own work so exchanging papers gives each writer a fresh pair of eyes and it also allows them the new perspective in which to apply their editorial skills.
2. The students should put their own name as the “editor” at the top of the colored feedback sheets that they fill-out. The editorial process should be viewed as its own assignment.
3. When the editor finds an error, they should not only mark it but find a relevant reference in their text that explains why this is an error and how to fix it.
4. Based on the feedback they receive, have the student writers correct their own papers. When they turn the assignment in to you they should staple or clip together (a) the revised paper and (b) the editing sheet they received with a classmate’s name on it.

The students each receive two sets of points.

The first set of scores is for their own (corrected) work and the second for the editing they performed. Remember, this second set of points is for the peer review they gave, not the one they received.

This second score is based on two things:

• The thoroughness and usefulness of their editing
• The final product of their writing partner

If a student turns in an assignment which does not correct the errors their partner identified, he or she loses points. However, if the writer turns in work which contains errors not identified in the peer-edit, the editor also loses points. The writer and editor are a team.

Bear in mind that the editorial process should take at least as long as the writing process. The first couple rounds may be slow going but quite quickly, the learning will gear up to progress faster than you ever thought possible.

Use the combined feedback to plan future lessons. If you see certain errors cropping up repeatedly (for either the writer or editors) assign supplemental worksheets for the individual teams.

Aside from the reduced workload on the teacher and the increased speed of writing improvement, peer-editing has several other advantages:

• Strong editors will become highly sought after by their peers.
  
  
• Thoroughness and attention to detail will become traits of positive competition in the classroom.
  
  
• Students will have their work completed more often. While they may have excuses ready for a teacher, students are less likely to give (or accept) them with their peers.
  
  
• Peer editing is a skill highly desired by employers and one that is used in higher education.
  
  
• The process increases autonomy and self-directed improvement as a life-long skill.

Once the process gets going, teachers will find their grading time dramatically cut and they will be able to spend that time giving more sustentative feedback with less focus on mechanical errors and sloppy proofreading.

Decades of educational research support the use of peer editing. Studies have shown that peer editing not only increases overall fluency more than control groups which did not use the technique but it’s been linked to improved reading comprehension as well.

Remember, teachers should be coaches, not crutches. Doing the all the revision for your students isn’t helping them learn, it’s depriving them of half the process. Use peer editing. Send your students home tired and send yourself home sane.

This is a second post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com guide to Business School. She also writes about online degree programs for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

Taking writing courses can help writing teachers become better writers, mentors, and readers. There are several free university level writing courses that can be taken online. Credit is not available for any of the courses and degrees are not awarded, but the opportunity to build new skills is undeniable. Here are 10 self-paced writing courses to explore in your spare time.

Creative Writing Course - The University of Utah's Department of English offers a creative writing course that covers fiction, poetry, playwriting, and creative non-fiction. The course is designed to provide general information about creative writing and improve writing skills.

Short Fiction Course - This short fiction course consists of pre-recorded class content from a writing course at the College of DuPage. You will listent to readings of several pieces of short fiction (The Necklace, A Rose for Emily, The Rocking Horse Winner, and The Chrysanthemums) as well as discussion on each story to facilitate understanding of the short story form.

Poetry Course - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) provides a free course on reading and writing poetry. The course includes assignments, recorded poetry readings, and reading recommendations.

Advanced Writing Seminar - This post-graduate seminar, also from MIT, explores different types of writing. The course includes lecture notes, a full set of assignments, and videos of student presentations. From the course description: "The class is an opportunity to write, review, rewrite and present a point of view both orally and in written form. "

Prose Fiction Course - This Open University course focuses on different ways of approaching prose fiction. The course is designed to help students learn how to read and analyze writing at the university level.

Screenwriting Course - Author and screenwriter Steve Barnes provides a slightly modified version of the nine-week screenwriting course he used to teach at the University of California-Los Angeles. The course includes both instruction and assignments.

Literature in English - This course from the University of California-Berkeley surveys major works in Anglo-American literature and includes lectures on close reading. The course is available in audio form and includes 28 lectures.

Warwick Writing Challenges - The director of the University of Warwick Writing Programme guides writers through more than 20 creative writing challenges. Each challenge can be played online or downloaded as an mp3 file. These challenges are also great practice for writing students.

Writing Tools Workshop - News University offers this course to visitors who register for a free account. The course introduces 50 writing tools to diagnose story problems, improve story architecture, and refine the writing voice. This course is based on Roy Peter Clark's great book Writing Tools which can be purchased from Amazon and is highly recommended for any writer or writing teacher.

Text as Property - Available through Connexions, this Rice University course explores ownership, authorship, plagiarism, and associated topics. The course is split into three parts and can be downloaded as a PDF or zip file. As the course introduction asks, do you know when plagiarism is art and when it's a crime?