Peer Review

zFairs · Peer Review

Staff instructions

Peer Review: How it works and how to use it

Peer Review lets participants score other entries in Online Judging, using the same portal and rubrics as judges, in rounds that are marked as peer review. Judges never see those rounds. Participants never see regular judging rounds.

This is off by default. It is not available on History / NHD events.

What participants experience

When Peer Review is on and the person is eligible:

1. They sign in as a participant.
2. A Peer Review item appears in their menu (label is customizable; default is “Peer Review”).
3. That link opens Online Judging in a new tab.
4. They only see peer-review rounds.
5. They only work entries they are assigned to. They cannot browse the full project list, open an unassigned entry, or request more work.

If they are not eligible, the menu item is hidden and they cannot get in by going to Online Judging directly.

Staff and judges are unchanged: they use Judging as usual and do not see peer-review rounds.

What you need before it works

1. Judging Portal (Online Judging) is enabled.
2. Peer Review is enabled in event Setup.
3. At least one judging round is marked as a peer-review round.
4. Participants are assigned to entries in that round (auto-assign or manual).
5. The round has a rubric.

Without a peer-review round and assignments, eligible participants can open the portal but have nothing to do.

Staff setup

1. Turn it on

In Setup, search for Peer Review (Judging / Online Judging).

Setting	What it does
Peer Review	Master switch. When on, eligible participants get the menu and can enter Online Judging for peer-review rounds.
Peer Review - Divisions	Optional. Empty = no division limit. If you pick divisions, only participants with an entry in one of those divisions can use peer review.
Peer Review - Entry Types	Optional. Empty = no entry-type limit. If you pick types, only participants with an entry of one of those types can use peer review.

The two limit lists appear only after Peer Review is on.

How limits combine

• Both empty → every participant can use peer review.
• Only divisions set → must have at least one entry in a selected division.
• Only entry types set → must have at least one entry of a selected type.
• Both set → must have one entry that matches both (same AND rule as packets/forms). Having a Junior entry and a separate Exhibit entry is not enough if you limited to Junior and Exhibit.

Limits apply to access (menu + portal). They do not by themselves change who auto-assign picks. See “Pool vs access limits” below.

2. Create a peer-review round

Judging → Setup (or Judging Round Manager):

1. Create or edit a round.
2. Check: This is a peer review round. Participants review entries in other categories. Judges will not see this round in online judging.
3. Set the rubric, dates, and any project filters as you would for a normal round.
4. Save. The round shows a Peer Review badge.

Marking a round as peer review turns off judge groups and request more work for that round. Those do not apply to participants.

The checkbox only shows if Peer Review is on (or if the round is already a peer-review round).

3. Assign reviewers

Open the round. Auto-assign is labeled Auto Assign Peer Review.

• Participant Pool: All / Checked-in / Active (signed in or registered in the last 6 months).
• Reviewers For Each Project: min / max.
• Max Entries Per Reviewer.

You can also assign people by hand the same way you assign judges.

Conflict rules (auto-assign) A participant is never assigned:

• their own entry, or
• an entry in the same category as any of their entries.

They only review entries in other categories.

If the event (or the filtered round) is all one category, auto-assign cannot place anyone without a conflict. You will get an audit note such as: “Cannot auto-assign peer reviews across categories because all entries are in Biology.” Use more than one category, or assign manually if you have a special case.

Pool vs access limits Division / entry-type limits control who can open Peer Review. Auto-assign currently uses the full participant pool (All / Checked-in / Active), not those limit lists. If you restrict access, check the assignment list so you are not assigning people who cannot open the portal.

Suggested rollout

1. Enable Judging Portal and Peer Review on a test event.
2. Leave division and entry-type lists empty first, so every participant can see the menu.
3. Create a peer-review round, attach a rubric, auto-assign, and walk through as a participant.
4. Confirm judges do not see that round.
5. If only some groups should review (for example Senior, or Research Paper), set Peer Review - Divisions and/or Peer Review - Entry Types, then confirm a matching participant sees the menu and a non-matching one does not.
6. Re-check assignments after you add limits.

What it does not do

• It does not replace judge scoring. Judges still score their own rounds.
• It does not auto-create a round. You create and mark it.
• It does not assign people until you auto-assign or assign manually.
• It does not use category, tag, grade, or round filters as access limits — only division and entry type.
• It is not for staff or judges. Those roles use normal Judging.
• History / NHD events do not get this setting or menu.

Quick checks if something looks wrong

Symptom	Likely cause
No Peer Review in Setup	Judging Portal off, History event, or the fair has not picked up the new settings yet.
No menu for participants	Peer Review off, they have no matching entry for the limit lists, Online Judging off, or they are not signed in as a participant.
Menu is there but nothing to score	No round marked peer review, or they have no assignments.
Auto-assign leaves entries empty	Only one category in the round, empty participant pool, or not enough people from other categories.
Judge sees the peer-review round	Round is not marked peer review, or they opened it from staff judging setup (setup still shows it; Online Judging hides it from judges).
Participant can open an entry they should not	They should not be able to. Scoring and opening an entry both require an assignment.

Summary

Turn on Peer Review, optionally limit it by division and/or entry type, mark a judging round as peer review, assign participants to other categories’ entries, and those participants use the Peer Review menu to score in Online Judging. Judges never see that round.