Students need to be on-pace together for effective peer learning. A writer without a draft is unprepared for full participation in a review.
Problem: Late for Writing Deadlines
Most writers turn things in at the wire or slightly late.
In a lecture course with 573 students, 73% of students turned their drafts in on the day it was due. Nineteen students turned their draft in with fewer than 10 minutes to spare, and 6 students missed the deadline by less than one hour. This pattern for timeliness is common (see Figure 1).
Solution: Start Review Later
Because writers work right up to and just past deadlines, we recommend that instructors mind the gap.
Make the deadline for submitting a writing task at least 1 hour and preferably 6-12 hours before assigning the review task. This gives writers a grace period.
With a gap, writers who are late for submitting their drafts are on-pace when review tasks begin. That makes group formation much easier for instructors too.
The auto-grouping tools in Eli exclude only writers without a draft at moment groups are created. The gap between a writing due date and group formation means that writers who were a little late submitting their draft are still prepared for review.
Mind the gap between the due date for writing and the start date of the review so that more students are ready to give and get feedback.
Learn more about strategies for managing late writers.
