# Benefits of students grading each other's (or their own) homework or quizzes?

I was wondering if there is any benefit to having undergraduate students swap homework and quizzes and grading them, with solutions that I provide.

I was thinking it might be helpful for them to compare another student's, or their own, solutions to my own, so that they can better learn how to write a solution, or maybe see different ways of coming to the same solution.

I teach undergraduate math classes that have the students learning how to do proofs, and I was thinking it might be helpful for them to do this.

I haven't tried this yet, which is why I was wondering if this is beneficial or detrimental.

• What level? K-12, undergraduate? – Chris C May 4 '16 at 21:01
• Undergraduate, I'll edit my post to clarify. – Felix Y. May 4 '16 at 21:17
• I think the most benefit will come from the quickness of feedback. Feedback is very important and this provides virtually immediate feedback on whether a student is doing something correctly or not. – Jared May 5 '16 at 0:25
• It might also be beneficial in proof based classes. – Chris C May 5 '16 at 3:23
• Instant feedback could be provided by collecting the exams and providing an answer key immediately. – Austin Mohr May 13 '16 at 7:08

A benefit that can be expected is to help student realize how important it is to write mathematics in a language (e.g. English; French in my case). I have often been confronted by students who considered I was being unduly demanding about sentences, correct use of « therefore » or $\implies$, etc. in my grading. I think that having to grade their peers (who will write about as poorly as they do at first) will help them realize how essential it is for the writer to be precise, if he or she wants the reader to be able to get what he or she means.