Overview
Canvas Peer Review allows teachers to assign an original student submission and require students to review one another’s work. This feature supports structured feedback, flexible grading, and optional automation.
New and exciting as of June 2026: Teachers can now assign a separate grade and due date specifically for the peer review itself, making accountability and feedback stronger than ever.
- Open the course in Canvas and click the Settings button.
- Click the Feature Options tab at the top of the page.
- Locate Peer Review Allocation and Grading and toggle to Enabled.
Key Benefits
- Original submission and peer review are graded separately, each with its own due date and point value.
- Optional anonymity and the ability to require students to submit before completing peer reviews.
- Flexible review setup with automatic or manual reviewer assignments.
- Create allocation rules to define how peer reviewers are assigned.
- Use strict for precise control or flexible, which adapts when submissions are missing.
- Cross-group peer review requires manual setup.
- Works with Turnitin. Student reviewers cannot view the Turnitin similarity report for the submission they are reviewing.
Important Behaviors/Considerations
Assignment and Gradebook Structure
- Canvas shows one assignment in the Assignments area.
- Canvas creates two items in the Gradebook: original submission grade and peer review grade.
- These two items may not appear next to each other.
SpeedGrader Access
- Original submission is accessible from Assignments, Gradebook, and To Do.
- Peer review grading is accessible only from Gradebook and To Do.
Reviewer Visibility
- There is no single, consolidated view or central screen showing all reviewer pairings.
- Reviewer assignments and identities can be viewed individually in SpeedGrader, unless limited by anonymity or anonymous grading settings.
- Students may not see reviewer names if anonymity is enabled.
- Use manual assignments if predictable reviewer pairings are required.
Workflow Timing
- Students cannot begin peer reviews until the original assignment’s due date has passed.
- This applies even if all students submit early.
- Peer reviews continue to be assigned until the Available Until date, if set.
- Teachers can require students to submit before receiving peer reviews.
Copy Issues
Copying peer review assignments requires a few extra steps, depending on how the content is moved.
- The assignment itself will copy, but peer review settings may not fully carry over in all cases.
- When using Copy To (single assignment copy), peer review settings do not transfer and must be reconfigured.
- When performing a full course copy, peer review settings usually transfer, but enhanced options may not.
- Feature options are not copied with the course and must be enabled in the new course.
Ensure Full Functionality after Copy
If you do not see the enhanced options, do the following.
- Enable Peer Review Allocation and Grading in the new course.
- Open the assignment and Edit it.
- Turn Peer Reviews off and Save.
- Edit, turn Peer Reviews on again, and Save.
Recommendations for Teachers
- Explain the two grades clearly and clarify requirements for students.
- Use due dates with adequate time between original submission and peer review.
- Use manual allocation if visibility is important.
- Provide a rubric to guide feedback.
Student Experience
- Students are notified of assigned peer reviews through Canvas (for example, in the To Do list, Dashboard, or assignment page).
- Students review a classmate’s submission and provide feedback using comments and/or rubric.
- If no rubric is used, at least one comment is required; if a rubric is used, completing it fulfills the requirement.
- Peer review is not supported in the Canvas mobile app.
Canvas Guides
Teachers
- How do I use peer review assignments in a course using Peer Review Allocation and Grading as an instructor?
- How do I create a peer review assignment with Peer Review Allocation and Grading?
- How do I grade peer reviews using Peer Review Allocation and Grading?