Peermark in Canvas - Canvas | Montana State University

Most faculty are familiar with PeerMark, Turnitin’s structured peer review tool. Now, we’re introducing Canvas Peer Review, a built-in alternative for facilitating student feedback. This page compares PeerMark and Peer Review, highlighting key differences, and provides tutorials for using both tools effectively.

Comparison

PeerMark (Turnitin) and Peer Review (Canvas) are both tools for facilitating peer feedback, but they have key differences:

PeerMark (Turnitin)

A Turnitin-specific tool for structured peer review.
Allows anonymous reviews (if enabled).
Instructors can set specific questions for reviewers to answer.
Automatically distributes papers among students for review.
Includes plagiarism detection through Turnitin.

Peer Review (Canvas)

A built-in Canvas feature for peer feedback on assignments.
Supports both anonymous and named reviews (depending on settings).
Reviewers leave general comments rather than answering set questions.
Instructors manually or automatically assign peer reviews.
No plagiarism detection is included.

In short, PeerMark provides a more structured, Turnitin-integrated review process, while Canvas Peer Review is a simpler, flexible tool for general peer feedback.

Creating a Peer Review Assignment

To set up a peer-reviewed assignment in Canvas, follow the steps in the tutorial How do I create a peer review assignment?

Creating a PeerMark Assignment

In Canvas, navigate to your course and click Assignments in the course menu.
Click the three dots next to the + Assignment button and select Turnitin to create a new Turnitin assignment.

canvas assignment page with dropdown next to +assignments open with turnitin outlined in red

Set the Title, Instructions, and Point Value for the assignment.
Set the Dates for the initial student submission.
Click the box next to Enable PeerMark.
click the Optional Settings link to adjust Turnitin behavior related to this assignment activity at this point.
Click Submit to finalize the assignment.

turnitin assignment window with all the fields outlined in red

Set Up Peer Review Criteria

Once created, the instructor can access the assignment by clicking on the assignment title from either their modules or assignments page.

Canvas modules with an assignment outlined in red

Open the PeerMark tab in Turnitin and select PeerMark Setup.

Turnitin assignment with Peerkmark tab and dropdown outlined in red

Under PeerMark Setup, you can edit the assignment and adjust additional settings.
- This is where the instructor reviews or distributes the papers.

PeerMark window with assignment options and settings link

Add specific questions for students to answer during the review in the PeerMark Questions Tab.

peermark page with questions page open

You can use the Distribution tab to cross-check and confirm how peer reviews are going to be assigned. Once selected, you can see the number of reviews that have been assigned to students (system Assigned) and make adjustments as needed using the plus and minus buttons.

peermark distribution tab with names of people who have submitted papers with - and + signs next to each name

Managing and Viewing Peer Reviews

After the PeerMark Assignment Due Date, students can start reviewing peers' submissions.
Instructors can view student progress by opening the PeerMark Review tab in Turnitin.

Turnitin assignment page with the peermark tab and dropdown outlined

To review feedback, click on an individual student’s review.
If needed, instructors can manually assign or redistribute reviews.

In PeerMark Reviews, you can see that students have been assigned a paper to review under the Submitted column, if the review is ready to be conducted (will be a blue pencil icon), and how many completed reviews have been received under the Received column. You can click on the pencil icon to view that student's review.

On the PeerMark assignment start date, students begin writing peer reviews. For each assigned paper students write reviews by responding to the free response and scale questions. Students will receive reviews as other students complete them. Once the PeerMark assignment due date passes no more reviews can be written, completed, or edited by the writer.

Peermark vs. Canvas Peer Review