This article describes an activity that was developed in the curriculum unit of Models of Distance Education, as part of the Master program of eLearning Pedagogy, at Universidade Aberta, Portugal. (...)

1. An Authoring and Peer Reviewing Activity in the
Master’s Program of Elearning Pedagogy:
The Teacher and Students’ Perspectives
Maria Paula Silva
Maria João Spilker
Marina Moleirinho
Lina Morgado
Web: mpel.wordpress.com
Facebook: MPeL.UAb
Twitter: MPeL_UAb
Universidade Aberta
Lisbon, Portugal
June/2011

2. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Methodology
4. Development of the Activity
5. Conclusions
6. Aspects for further investigation

3. 1. Introduction
Online Learning / Distance Education

4. 2. Background
Master’s Program in Elearning Pedagogy
Totally online program
2 semesters
25 students (adults)
8 courses
Moodle &
Social Media

5. Master’s Program in Elearning Pedagogy

6. The Course Models of Distance Education
The Learning Design
of an activity
emulating
the production of a
peer-reviewed
journal

7. The Planning of the Activity
PHASE TASK
1
Exploring resources
Choosing a theme and a team
2
Definition and Presentation of criteria to
assess articles
Writing a half-page abstract
3 Writing and submission of articles
4 Assessment of articles
5 Reflection and evaluation of the process

8. 3. Methodology
 Written discourse analysis
Messages in the General Support Forum
Forums of the Peer-Reviewer teams
Messages of the topic
“Assessment of the activity”
 Analysis of the final students’ products
Web pages (Wiki and Google-Docs)

9. 4. Development of the Activity

10. Formation of the Peer-Reviewers’ Teams

11. Formation of the Peer-Reviewers’ Teams

12. Master Students as Paper Authors
Source: http://lab-initio.com/
Source: http://www.flickr.com

13. Master Students as Article Peer-Reviewers
•Establishing criteria
•Collecting abstracts
•Reviewing articles

14. Master Students as Article Peer-Reviewers
Peer Review
Teams
Structure and
organization
Rules for general
format
Rules for citation
and references
Content
Mobile Learning
- Author’s name
- Affiliation;
- Title;
- Abstract;
- Key-words;
- Introduction;
- Development;
- Conclusion.
- Four-page limit;
- Word format for
scientific articles;
- Reduced use of notes to
appear at the end of the
text;
- Indexation and subtitling
of diagrams, images and
tables.
Portuguese Norm
(NP 405-1, 1994)
- Pertinent, reflexive, updated
and objective approach;
- Comprehensible and clear
and language;
- Observance of ethical
factors.
Connectivism
- Title and sub-title;
- Key-words;
- Abstract;
- Introduction;
- Development;
- Conclusion.
--- APA
- Quality, correctness and
content relevance;
- Mastery of concepts;
- Clarity of thinking and
writing;
- Reflection and critical
analysis skills.
PLEs
- Introduction,
- Development,
- Conclusion.
- Title of the Article;
- Author;
- Abstract;
- Key-words;
- References and citation;
- Tables and diagrams;
- Acronyms and
abbreviations.
APA – 6th Edition
- Clarity of thinking and
adequate analysis
delimitation;
- Mastery of concepts and /
or ideas and relevance in
the present context;
- Justified ideas;
- Ability to reflect personal
perspective.

15. 5. Conclusions
Knowledge gains
Promotion of team work
Multi-tasking
Academic writing skills
Acquaintance with specialized bibliography
A complex and challenging
learning design

16. 6. Aspects for Further Investigation
Factors behind the choice for teams’
formation
Connection between peer reviewers work
and authoring work
Constraints of peer reviewing
Transparency of the group work

17. Contacts
Web: mpel.wordpress.com
Facebook: MPeL.UAb
Twitter: MPeL_UAb
Maria Paula Silva
mpaulasilva@gmail.com
Maria João Spilker
mjspilker@gmail.com
Marina Moleirinho
mmoleirinho@gmail.com
Lina Morgado
lmorgado@univ-ab.pt