CyberFair Peer Review

See sample Peer Review Rubric

Peer Review opens on Tuesday, 1 April, '25 and closes on Tuesday, 22 April, '25.

Intro to Peer Review How it Works Step-by-Step Instructions Your Review Assignments Print Your Certificate HELP!

Introduction to Peer Review

Peer Review is a very important part of the CyberFair Contest! CyberFair participants must evaluate and submit reviews on six (or more) other CyberFair entries (in categories that are different than theirs). The highest scoring entries in each category are submitted to our distinguished panel of international judges for final evaluation.

Students must realize that this is not a game or a pointless exercise. Rather, their judgments are important, critical, and real. Other people are depending on them to do a good job... in the same way that they will depend on other schools to do a good job in reviewing their project. Since students must learn to critically evaluate all kinds of information resources around them, the Peer Review portion of CyberFair gives the teacher an excellent opportunity to help their students learn these   evaluation skills.

Each review should take a approximately one hour, so please allow enough time to do a good job. And, please, please don't wait until the last minute. You know there are always unexpected technical problems.

We also encourage reviews from the community. If you are not a CyberFair participant, we invite you to become an authorized CyberFair Reviewer. Learn more.

Each year, Peer Review is one of the most popular activities of CyberFair!

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How it Works

Only registered CyberFair participants and approved volunteer reviewers may submit CyberFair evaluations.

By the peer review start date we will assign you six CyberFair Projects to evaluate. You can check the web for your projects review assignments. (We will also notify you by email.)

Next, follow the step-by-step instructions to organize and conduct the Peer Review process in your school.

You may submit only one evaluation for each project. This means that you and your students must collaborate on the review and reach a consensus.

  • There are no anonymous reviews. The projects that you review will see your scores, your comments, and your email address. Therefore, your students must be prepared to answer questions about their scoring judgments. This process will help your students to understand the need for integrity and to accept their responsibility.

Deadline for submitting all six evaluations can be found on the timeline.

Scoring Process Explained

The CyberFair Peer Review Evaluation Rubric is divided into six sections, labeled from "A"to "F".

For scoring purposes, these six sections are grouped into three major categories. The chart below shows the three categories and the sections that comprise them  with the maximum points for each:

I. CyberFair Theme 10 points
A. Fits CyberFair Theme 10 points
II. Content/Organization 15 points
B. Ideas and Content 5 points
C. Organization 5 points
D. Language Conventions 5 points
III. hypermedia/Technical 10 points
E. Presentation 5 points
F. Technical 5 points
Maximum score: 1500 points
(10 X 15 X 10 = 1500)

A well-known problem in many student multimedia projects is that students spend more time on the look and feel (fonts, colors, graphics, effects, etc.) than they do on the ideas and content.

However, a project that will draw in visitors and then keep their interest must be both visually appealing as well as contextually interesting and well-written.

In the case of CyberFair projects, the process of sharing and connecting with the community is an especially valuable learning experience.

Therefore, we use this process when calculating the final scores:

  1. The scores for each of the six sections (A-F) are averaged.
  2. The average scores for the sections in each category are added.
  3. The totals for each of the three categories are multiplied.

For instance, if the maximum score for
   Category I. CyberFair Theme is 10,
   Category II. Content & Organization is 15, and
   Category III. hypermedia & Technical is 10,
then the maximum possible score is 1500 (10 X 15 X 10).

This scoring method requires students to pay equal attention to all three categories, since a moderate score in all areas can yield a higher total score than one which is high in one area and low in another.

Simply follow the steps in the next section to prepare and submit your CyberFair Peer Review Evaluations.

Intro to Peer Review How it Works Step-by-Step Instructions Your Review Assignments Print Your Certificate HELP!

Step-by-Step Evaluation Instructions

  1. Preparation: DO THIS NOW!!!
    • Print a copy of the Peer Review Evaluation Rubric
       
    • Duplicate and distribute copies of the evaluation rubric to your students.
       
    • Explain and discuss the vocabulary and meaning of the criteria with your students.
       
    • Practice: have your students use the evaluation rubric to evaluate their own project. Discuss the results.
       
    • More practice: If you have time, have students review and discuss projects from previous years.
       
  2. Peer Review Process (view timeline for dates)
    • We will assign you six other CyberFair projects to review. Check back here for your assigned projects.
       
    • Duplicate and distribute printed copies of the Peer Review Rubric to your students.
       
    • Have your students individually review each project, marking the printed rubric according to the instructions in the next section.
       
    • Discuss each project and come to a group consensus about the scores and comments you will assign.
       
    • Submit one completed review for each of your assigned projects.

      Note: You are free to adopt different review strategies which will meet your own local needs.

  3. How to Score a Peer Review Evaluation Rubric

    The Rubric is divided into six major sections labeled A-F. Each section begins with a description of what an "excellent" CyberFair Project should look like to achieve the maximum score in that section. This description is then followed by several scoring criteria, worth from 0 to 5 points.

    For each scoring criterion:

    • Read the three evaluation statements. Each statement describes the qualities of a web project which would qualify for one of the scores in the left column.
       
    • Compare the qualities of the Web project you are reviewing to the qualities described in each evaluation statements.
       
    • Choose the statement which best describes the Web project
       
    • If the Web project strongly matches the statement you selected, choose the radio button for the higher score to the left. Otherwise, select the radio button for the lower score.
       
Intro to Peer Review How it Works Step-by-Step Instructions Your Review Assignments Print Your Certificate HELP!

Which Projects Do You Review?

Only registered participants and approved reviewers may submit CyberFair evaluations.

In order to ensure that all projects receive enough reviews we will make all of your Peer Review Assignments. A day or two before Peer Review begins we will send you an email with your review assignments, and you will be able to log in at Log in Here to view your assignments.

Intro to Peer Review How it Works Step-by-Step Instructions Your Review Assignments Print Your Certificate HELP!

Troubleshooting and Help

  1. Review the step-by-step instructions before you begin troubleshooting.
  2. You can't submit a form (registration or evaluation):
    We have tested all of our pages and forms with a variety of browsers, versions, and operating systems. When conditions are "right" our forms will work... however, some causes for failure are beyond our control. Here are some steps you can take to get your data to us:
    • Reload the page (hit the Reload/Refresh button).
    • Try again later at a different time of day (maybe your gateway, the internet, or our server is too busy).
    • Clear your browser's memory cache (in settings or options) and then reload the page (hit the Reload/Refresh button).

    We've noticed on one of the (unnamed) browsers on one of the (unnamed) computers that we cannot submit multiple evaluations sequentially without first clearing the cache and reloading the "Submit an Evaluation" page between each review.

    • Shut down and re-launch your browser
    • Try submitting the form using a different browser or a different computer.
        
  3. You can't connect with or review your assigned Web project:

    This may happen if the connection to the remote site is too slow, or if the connection fails before pages get loaded, if the project uses features which are too advanced for your browser, or if the remote web site is temporarily unavailable. Please wait a day and then try again.

    If you are still unable to connect to one of your assigned projects, Click here to describe the problem you're having. Be sure to include the project's CyberFair entry number and school name.

    Please don't wait until the last minute to let us know you are having problems! Within the time available we will either help to correct the problem or assign you a new project to review.
     

  4. If you need to contact us or ask a question:
     

 

Intro to Peer Review How it Works Step-by-Step Instructions Your Review Assignments Print Your Certificate HELP!