Work in progress: Reusable learning objects through peer review: The Expertiza approach

The Expertiza platform is a divide-and-conquer approach to producing reusable learning objects through active-learning exercises. Students select from a list of tasks to be performed, with several students selecting each task. Then they prepare their work and submit it to an electronic peer-review system. The work is then reviewed by other students, who offer comments to help the submitters improve their work. The best submissions for each task are then selected for use in later courses. Expertiza gets students working together to improve others' learning experiences. It helps them learn, by making them think through the lecture material and apply it to a real-world situation, just as they might do in an on-the-job situation. These learning objects can be improved iteratively; for example, the next year's class can be presented with the examples developed by students the previous year, and asked to identify shortcomings and develop improved examples. This paper presents numerous examples of how the platform can be used to allow each cohort of students to "stand on the shoulders" of their predecessors, building ever-more-effective resources to help themselves learn.