The moderation process is similar to the peer review process associated with traditional portfolio assessment. Students pair up, read, discuss, and evaluate several LRO's of their peers. The pairs complete a comment sheet that focuses on the completeness and quality of the overall LRO. This process is very beneficial, for it allows students to examine other LRO's, to have a reference point/comparison for their own LRO, and engages students in evaluation and assessment. This process is especially effective because student reviewers are familiar with the LRO and its components.
In addition to the questions on the comment form, students also confront such issues and questions as: "How much material should be included? What range of material will best represent the student's development? Should there be more observations, or a greater range of them?" (questions taken from LRO website, "The Learning Record Moderation Model and College Level Courses").
The teacher begins the moderation process and students are randomly assigned LRO's to review; the moderations are conducted on-line. The moderation process is more beneficial than simple peer review of papers, for students assess the structure of the LRO itself as a collective space, since all of their work (or most of it with the exception of web projects or papers created with word-processing software) is created in the same space.
In evaluating their peers' LRO's, students look for evidence and demonstration of development. The moderation process reinforces examination at both at the micro level (looking at specific assignments included) and at the macro level (looking at the overall portfolio and demonstration), thereby reinforcing writing and learning as multi-dimensional and contextual.