In my online courses I tend to shock the students. I ask them to critique their peers content. This of course is met with shock and silence until I explain the importance of peer evaluation, being able to take a critique as well as learning how to communicate with each other online. The first and most important rule is always critique the content not the contributor - I show them examples of that as I grade their essays. I never write "your thesis lacks an argument" it's always "THE thesis lacks argument" or "The essay did not meet word count". Critical assessment is a tough skill to learn and students need all practice they can get. I often guide them as much as possible to ask these questions in discussion boards- usually toward the end of the course most are applying this new strategy of communication. Has anyone else tried something like this?