Abstract: Much has been written during the past five years about team projects in computer information systems and computer science courses. Several authors have mentioned using peer reviews, but most used such reviews to evaluate team members and their contributions to the project. While some authors mention that they have incorporated peer reviews as a means of evaluating projects at various stages, few have focused on the peer review process or its effectiveness. A topic that has received somewhat less attention is the importance of writing in computer information systems and computer science courses. Project courses offer many opportunities for varied writing assignments. Typical assignments include documentation for users and reports to supervisors. These are important and useful types of writing assignments, but both are formal or transactional in nature. While transactional writing is important, expressive writing, such as that found in diaries or journals, first-draft papers, and personal letters, is also important. Many believe that expressive writing promotes independent thought better than other forms of writing. An excellent forum for expressive writing in project courses is through project logs. This paper describes how we have incorporated the peer review process and project logs into team project assignments and evaluates the success of each.

Keywords: Team projects, Peer reviews, Project logs, Database systems, Expressive writing

Download this article: JISE - Volume 3 Number 2, Page 21.pdf

Recommended Citation: McDonald, G. & McDonald, M. (1991). The Effectiveness of Peer Reviews and Project Logs in Team Projects. Journal of Information Systems Education, 3(2), 21-26.