# Through the Looking Glass: Insights into Visualization Pedagogy through Sentiment Analysis of Peer Review Text

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.02839 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.02839/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 5 Aug 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [HINTs: Sensemaking on large collections of documents with Hypergraph visualization and INTelligent agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02752/) (2024)
- [Using Sentiment Analysis to Investigate Peer Feedback by Native and Non-Native English Speakers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22924/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Peer review is a widely utilized feedback mechanism for engaging students. As a pedagogical method, it has been shown to improve educational outcomes, but we have found limited empirical measurement of peer review in visualization courses. In addition to increasing engagement, peer review provides diverse feedback and reinforces recently-learned course concepts through critical evaluation of others' work. We discuss the construction and application of peer review in two visualization courses from different colleges at the University of South Florida. We then analyze student projects and peer review text via sentiment analysis to infer insights for visualization educators, including the focus of course content, engagement across student groups, student mastery of concepts, course trends over time, and expert intervention effectiveness. Finally, we provide suggestions for adapting peer review to other visualization courses to engage students and increase instructor understanding of the peer review process.