Communities of Correspondence: Compassionate Peer Review in a Post-Pandemic World

This chapter repositions peer review as a means of equipping students with the tools required to listen deeply, respond compassionately, and engage with peers in a meaningful and productive way. Grounded in the principles of rhetorical listening and deep attending, our approach to peer review emphasizes the transferable values and skills of empathy and respect that underpin constructive feedback. It thus provides a two-pronged, blended peer review strategy that both establishes and reifies our classrooms as compassionate learning environments in response to the crises that continually reshape higher education and offers a definitive way forward in empowering minoritized students.