Peer learning

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One of the most visible approaches to peer learning comes out of cognitive psychology, and is applied within a "mainstream" educational framework: "Peer learning is an educational practice in which students interact with other students to attain educational goals." [1] Other authors including David Boud describe peer learning as a way of moving beyond independent to interdependent or mutual learning among peers. [2] In this context, it can be compared to the practices that go by the name cooperative learning. However, other contemporary views on peer learning relax the constraints, and position "peer-to-peer learning" as a mode of "learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything." [3] Whether it takes place in a formal or informal learning context, in small groups or online, peer learning manifests aspects of self-organization that are mostly absent from pedagogical models of teaching and learning.

Contents

Connections with other practices

Constructivism

In his 1916 book, Democracy and Education, John Dewey wrote, “Education is not an affair of 'telling' and being told, but an active and constructive process.” In a later essay, entitled "Experience and Education", [4] Dewey went into greater detail about the science of child development and developed the basic Constructivist theory that knowledge is created through experience, rather than passed down from teacher to student through rote memorization. Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who developed the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, was another proponent of constructivist learning: his book, Thought and Language, provides evidence that students learn better through collaborative, meaningful problem-solving activities than through solo exercises.

The three distinguishing features of constructivist theory are claims that: [5]

These are clearly meaningful propositions in a social context with sustained relationships, where people work on projects or tasks that are collaborative or otherwise shared.

Educational Psychology Professor Alison King explains in "Promoting Thinking Through Peer Learning" [6] that peer learning exercises as simple as having students explain concepts to one another are proof of social constructivism theory at work; the act of teaching another individual demands that students “clarify, elaborate on, and otherwise reconceptualize material.” Joss Winn, Senior Lecturer in Educational Research at University of Lincoln, proposes that schools radically redefine the teacher-student relationship to fit this constructivist theory of knowledge in his December 2011 paper, "Student as Producer". [7] Carl Rogers' "Personal Thoughts on Learning" [8] focus on the individual’s experience of effective learning, and eventually conclude that nearly the entire traditional educational structure is at odds with this experience. Self-discovered learning in a group that designates a facilitator is the “new approach” Rogers recommends for education.

In general, peer learning may adapt constructivist or discovery learning methods for the peer-to-peer context: however, peer learning typically manifests constructivist ideas in a more informal way, when learning and collaboration are simply applied to solve some real shared problem.

Critical pedagogy

Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed advocated a more equitable relationship between teachers and students, one in which information is questioned and situated in political context, and all participants in the classroom work together to create knowledge. Paulo Blikstein, Assistant Professor of Education at Stanford University wrote in Travels in Troy with Freire: Technology as an Agent of Emancipation [9] that through exploratory building activities, “Not only did students become more autonomous and responsible, they learned to teach one another.”

Connectivism

Yochai Benkler explains how the now-ubiquitous computer helps us produce and process knowledge together with others in his book, The Wealth of Networks. George Siemens argues in Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, that technology has changed the way we learn, explaining how it tends to complicate or expose the limitations of the learning theories of the past. In practice, the ideas of connectivism developed in and alongside the then-new social formation, "massive open online courses" or MOOCs.

Connectivism proposes that the knowledge we can access by virtue of our connections with others is just as valuable as the information carried inside our minds. The learning process, therefore, is not entirely under an individual’s control—learning can happen outside ourselves, as if we are a member of a large organization where many people are continuously updating a shared database.

Rita Kop and Adrian Hill, in their critique of connectivism, [10] state that:

it does not seem that connectivism’s contributions to the new paradigm warrant it being treated as a separate learning theory in and of its own right. Connectivism, however, continues to play an important role in the development and emergence of new pedagogies, where control is shifting from the tutor to an increasingly more autonomous learner.

Perspectives of other modern theorists

In a joint paper, Roy Williams, Regina Karousou, and Jenny Mackness argue that educational institutions should consider "emergent learning," in which learning arises from a self-organized group interaction, as a valuable component of education in the Digital Age. Web 2.0 puts distributed individuals into a group setting where emergent learning can occur. However, deciding how to manage emergence is important; “fail-safe” management drives activity towards pre-determined outcomes, while “safe/fail experiments” steer away from negative outcomes while leaving space open for mistakes and innovation. [11] Williams et al. also distinguish between the term “environment” as controlled, and “ecology” as free/open.

Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg write in The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age about the potential of “participatory learning,” and a new paradigm of education that is focused on mediated interactions between peers. They argue that if institutions of higher learning could begin to value this type of learning, instead of simply trying to implement “Instructional Technology” in classrooms, they could transform old models of university education. Davidson and Goldberg introduce “Ten Principles for the Future of Learning,” which include self-learning, horizontal structures, and open source education. Peter Sloterdijk's recent book "You Must Change Your Life" proposes similar ideas in the context of a "General Disciplinics" that would "counteract the atrophy of the educational system" by focusing on forms of learning that takes place through direct participation in the disciplines. [12] (p. 156)

Yochai Benkler and Helen Nissenbaum discuss implications for the realm of moral philosophy in their 2006 essay, "Commons-Based Peer Production and Virtue". [13] They argue that the “socio-technical systems” of today’s Internet make it easier for people to role-model and adopt positive, virtuous behaviors on a large scale.

Joseph Corneli and Charles Jeffrey Danoff proposed the label “paragogy” to describe a collection of “best practices of effective peer learning”. [14] They published a short book [15] along with several papers in which they discuss five "paragogical principles" that form the core of their proposed learning theory. These were generated by rethinking Malcolm Knowles principles of andragogy for a learning context that is co-created by the learners.

Experiments

The learning theories and approaches described above are currently being tested in peer-learning communities around the world, often adapting educational technology to support informal learning, though results in formal learning contexts exist too. For example, Eric Mazur and colleagues report on "Ten years of experience and results" with a teaching technique they call "Peer Instruction":

Peer Instruction engages students during class through activities that require each student to apply the core concepts being presented, and then to explain those concepts to their fellow students. [16]

This approach made early use of a variant of the technique that is now known as the "flipped classroom":

To free up class time for ConcepTests, and to prepare students better to apply the material during class, students are required to complete the reading on the topics to be covered before class.

Peer 2 Peer University, or P2PU, which was founded in 2009 by Philipp Schmidt and others, is an example from the informal learning side. Speaking about the beginnings of P2PU, Schmidt echoes Siemens’ connectivism ideas and explains that, “The expertise is in the group. That’s the message, that everyone can bring something to the conversation.” [3] In numerous public talks, Schmidt argues that current educational models are "broken" (particularly on the basis of the high cost of university-level training). He suggests that social assessment mechanisms similar to those applied in open-source software development can be applied to education. [17] In practice, this approach uses peer-based assessment including recommendations and badges to provide an alternative form of accreditation. [18]

Jeff Young’s article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "When Professors Print Their Own Diplomas", [19] sparked a conversation about the necessity of formal degrees in an age when class lectures can be uploaded for free. The MIT Open Teaching initiative, for example, has since 2001 put all of its course materials online. But David A. Wiley, then Psychology Professor at Utah State, went further, signing certificates for whoever takes his class. A similar practice has become even more visible in learning projects like Udacity, Coursera, and EdX. Although these projects attempt to "scale education" by distributing learning materials produced by experts (not classic examples of peer learning), they do frequently feature peer-to-peer discussions in forums or offline. [20]

Applications in development

In the forward to a book on the Power of peer learning by Jean-H. Guilmette, Maureen O'Neil, then president of Canada's International Development Research Centre, states that

Our experience has proven that [peer learning] is an efficient way to transmit knowledge across a wide range of groups or regions. Peer learning, based on jointly generated evidence, is also an effective means to build capacity and foster scientific excellence. The body of knowledge it generates is a powerful tool for the development of evidence-based policy. [21]

Guilmette suggests that peer learning is useful in the development context because

It is my view that managing networks, especially those that are made up of sovereign nations, is fundamentally different from managing companies, organizations, or ministries that fall under a single authority. In essence, the dominant management approach for companies and institutions rests on cybernetics, with the view of keeping communications and accountability simple and clear. Managing methods that are successful in such a context [are] counterproductive when managing networks.

Guilmette cites Anne K. Bernard, who in a report based on extensive interviews, concludes:

Effective networks act not simply on the basis of optimizing within constraints by attempting to force-fit predicted, linear and regulated programmes of work onto dynamic policy and client communities. Rather, they hone capacities and create mechanisms for the regular feedback and reflected analyses which are needed to deal with the ambiguity of these environments, and to adapt interactively with them. [22]

Criticism

Scardamalia and Bereiter explain in "Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities" [23] that computers in the classroom have the opportunity to restructure the learning environment, but too often they are simply used to provide a digital version of a normal lesson or exam. They propose that classrooms be exchanged for “knowledge-building communities” where students can use computers to connect to and create knowledge in the outside world. However, as illustrated in citations above, this way of thinking about learning is often at odds with traditional educational praxis.

In "The Role of the Learning Platform in Student-Centered E-Learning", Kurliha, Miettinen, Nokelainen, and Tirri found a "difference in learning outcomes based on the tools used." [24] However, the variables at work are not well understood, and are the subject of ongoing research. [25] Within a formal education setting, a 1994 study found that students were more responsive to feedback from a teacher than they were to peer feedback. However, another later study showed that training in assessment techniques had a positive impact on individual student performance.

A classic study [26] on motivation in peer tutoring showed that "reward is no motivator." Although other more recent work has shown that non-monetary rewards or acknowledgement can make a difference in performance (for certain populations of peer producers), [27] the exact motivations for going out of the way to teach or tutor someone else are not clearly understood. As mentioned above, learning is often just part of solving a problem, so "peer learning" and "peer teaching" would tend to happen informally when people solve problems in groups.

In practice

Research

Research on peer learning may involve participant observation, and may itself be peer produced. Some of this research falls under the broader umbrella of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Computer-supported collaborative learning is one obvious context in which to study peer learning, since in such settings "learning is observably and accountably embedded in collaborative activity." [28] Research has shown that peer collaboration in nursing simulations not only fosters a deeper understanding of clinical concepts but also improves students' ability to navigate complex decision-making scenarios, aligning with the principles of constructivist learning where knowledge is co-created through experiential peer interactions. [29] However, peer learning can play a role in settings where traditional conceptions of both "teaching" and "learning" do not apply, for instance, in academic peer review, in organizational learning, in development work, and in public health programmes. Research in these areas may fall within the area of organization science, science, technology and society (STS) or other fields.

See also

Related Research Articles

Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods, including testing and measurement, to enhance educational activities related to instructional design, classroom management, and assessment, which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning theory (education)</span> Theory that describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning

Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a worldview, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.

Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated, and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others. Like social constructionism, social constructivism states that people work together to actively construct artifacts. But while social constructivism focuses on cognition, social constructionism focuses on the making of social reality.

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Problem-based learning</span> Learner-centric pedagogy

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution, but it allows for the development of other desirable skills and attributes. This includes knowledge acquisition, enhanced group collaboration and communication.

Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students by imparting to them skills, and the basis on how to learn a specific subject and schemata required to measure up to the specific performance requirement. Student-centered instruction focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Student-centered learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasizes the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constructivism (philosophy of education)</span> Philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge; theory of knowledge

Constructivism in education is a theory that suggests that learners do not passively acquire knowledge through direct instruction. Instead, they construct their understanding through experiences and social interaction, integrating new information with their existing knowledge. This theory originates from Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

A learning management system (LMS) or virtual learning environment (VLE) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learning management system concept emerged directly from e-Learning. Learning management systems make up the largest segment of the learning system market. The first introduction of the LMS was in the late 1990s. LMSs have been adopted by almost all higher education institutions in the English-speaking world. Learning management systems have faced a massive growth in usage due to the emphasis on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning. The central term in this definition is connections. It adopts a relational stance in which learning takes place both in relation to others and in relation to learning resources. In design and practice, networked learning is intended to facilitate evolving sets of connections between learners and their interpersonal communities, knowledge contexts, and digital technologies.

Constructivist teaching is based on constructivism. Constructivist teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs as learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information.

This glossary of education-related terms is based on how they commonly are used in Wikipedia articles. This article contains terms starting with A – C. Select a letter from the table of contents to find terms on other articles.

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach wherein learning takes place via social interaction using a computer or through the Internet. This kind of learning is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge among participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource. CSCL can be implemented in online and classroom learning environments and can take place synchronously or asynchronously.

William David "Bill" Winn (1945–2006) was an American educational psychologist, and professor at the University of Washington College of Education, known for his work on how people learn from diagrams, and on how cognitive and constructivist theories of learning can help instructional designers select effective teaching strategies.

An edublog is a blog created for educational purposes. Edublogs archive and support [[dibu] and teacher learning by facilitating reflection, questioning by self and others, collaboration and by providing contexts for engaging in higher-order thinking. Edublogs proliferated when blogging architecture became more simplified and teachers perceived the instructional potential of blogs as an online resource. The use of blogs has become popular in education institutions including public schools and colleges. Blogs can be useful tools for sharing information and tips among co-workers, providing information for students, or keeping in contact with parents. Common examples include blogs written by or for teachers, blogs maintained for the purpose of classroom instruction, or blogs written about educational policy. Educators who blog are sometimes called edubloggers.

Synchronous conferencing or synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) is any form of computer-mediated communication that occurs in real-time; that is, there is no significant delay between sending and receiving messages. SCMC includes real-time forms of text, audio, and video communication. SCMC has been highly studied in the context of e-learning.

Contextual learning is based on a constructivist theory of teaching and learning. Learning takes place when teachers are able to present information in such a way that students are able to construct meaning based on their own experiences. Contextual learning experiences include internships, service learning and study abroad programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open education</span> Educational movement

Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems and is typically offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open educational practices</span>

Open educational practices (OEP) are part of the broader open education landscape, including the openness movement in general. It is a term with multiple layers and dimensions and is often used interchangeably with open pedagogy or open practices. OEP represent teaching and learning techniques that draw upon open and participatory technologies and high-quality open educational resources (OER) in order to facilitate collaborative and flexible learning. Because OEP emerged from the study of OER, there is a strong connection between the two concepts. OEP, for example, often, but not always, involve the application of OER to the teaching and learning process. Open educational practices aim to take the focus beyond building further access to OER and consider how in practice, such resources support education and promote quality and innovation in teaching and learning. The focus in OEP is on reproduction/understanding, connecting information, application, competence, and responsibility rather than the availability of good resources. OEP is a broad concept which can be characterised by a range of collaborative pedagogical practices that include the use, reuse, and creation of OER and that often employ social and participatory technologies for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation and sharing, empowerment of learners, and open sharing of teaching practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online learning in higher education</span> Development in distance education that began in the mid-1980s

Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a development in distance education that expanded in the 1990s with the spread of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web. The learner experience is typically asynchronous but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a learning management system for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.

A renewable assignment is a learning activity that are completed by students of a course that has worth outside of the specific setting of that course. The value of a renewable assignment is that the assignment, once completed by the students, can then be published for viewing and expansion by other students or by the wider scholarly community. These types of assignments are an important component of the open pedagogy model of learning.

References

  1. ↑ O'Donnell, A. M.; A. King (1999). Cognitive perspectives on peer learning. Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN   0805824480.
  2. ↑ "Peer Learning – The Future of Online Education". teachfloor.com. 2021-04-29.
  3. 1 2 Jeff Brazil, May 23, 2011, P2PU: Learning for Everyone, by Everyone, about almost Anything Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ John Dewey, Experience and Education
  5. ↑ Akhras, F.N.; Self, J.A. (2000). "Modeling the process, not the product, of learning". In S.P. Lajoie (ed.). Computers as cognitive tools, volume two: No more walls. pp. 3–28.
  6. ↑ Alison King, Promoting Thinking Through Peer Learning
  7. ↑ Joss Winn, Student as Producer
  8. ↑ Carl Rogers' "Personal Thoughts on Learning"
  9. ↑ Travels in Troy with Freire: Technology as an Agent of Emancipation
  10. ↑ Kop, R.; Hill, A. (2008). "Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?". The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 9 (3): Article 9. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v9i3.523 . Archived from the original on 2018-12-23.
  11. ↑ Williams, R.; R. Karousou; J. Mackness (2011). "Emergent Learning and Learning Ecologies in Web 2.0". The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 12 (3): 39. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v12i3.883 .
  12. ↑ Sloterdijk, P. (2013). You Must Change Your Life . Polity Press. ISBN   9780745649214.
  13. ↑ Benkler, Y.; H. Nissenbaum (2006). "Commons-based peer production and virtue" (PDF). Journal of Political Philosophy. 14 (4): 394–419. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2006.00235.x. S2CID   10974424.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ Joseph Corneli and Charles Jeffrey Danoff, Paragogy: Synergizing individual and organizational learning
  15. ↑ Corneli, J.; C. Danoff (2012). Paragogy (PDF). Pub Dom Ed Press. ISBN   978-0-9855722-0-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-22. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  16. ↑ Crouch, C.H.; Mazur, E. (2001). "Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results". American Journal of Physics. 69 (9): 970–977. Bibcode:2001AmJPh..69..970C. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.113.6060 . doi:10.1119/1.1374249. S2CID   1893994.
  17. ↑ Schmidt, J. P (2009). "Commons-Based Peer Production and education" (PDF). Free Culture Research Workshop Harvard University, 23 October 2009.
  18. ↑ Schmidt, J. P.; C. Geith; S. Håklev; J. Thierstein (2009). "Peer-To-Peer Recognition of Learning in Open Education". The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 10 (5). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v10i5.641 .
  19. ↑ Jeff Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, When Professors Print Their Own Diplomas
  20. ↑ Anya Kamenetz, Who can Learn Online, And How?
  21. ↑ Guilmette, J-H. (2009). Power of peer learning : networks and development cooperation. IDRC, Ottawa, ON, CA. hdl:10625/28624. ISBN   9781552503492.
  22. ↑ Bernard, A. K. (1996). IDRC Networks: An Ethnographic Perspective.
  23. ↑ Scardamalia and Bereiter, Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities
  24. ↑ J. Kurhila, M. Miettinen, P. Nokelainen, and H. Tirri, The Role of the Learning Platform in Student-Centered E-Learning
  25. ↑ Call for participation: Workshop at the Alpine Rendez-Vous 2013 January, 28 - February, 1st 2013 It's About Time: Addressing the Many Challenges of Analyzing Multi-Scale Temporal Data
  26. ↑ Garbarino, J. (1975). "The impact of anticipated reward upon cross-age tutoring". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 32 (3): 421–428. doi:10.1037/h0077087.
  27. ↑ Restivo, M.; van de Rijt, A. (2012). "Experimental Study of Informal Rewards in Peer Production". PLOS ONE. 7 (3). Public Library of Science: e34358. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...734358R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034358 . PMC   3315525 . PMID   22479610.
  28. ↑ Koschmann, T. (2001). "Revising the paradigms of instructional technology". Meeting at the Crossroads: 8th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE).
  29. ↑ Ngo, Thye Peng; Burke Draucker, Claire; Barnes, Roxie L.; Kwon, Kyungbin; Reising, Deanna L. (2024). "Peer Collaborative Clinical Decision Making in Nursing Simulation: A Theoretical Framework". Journal of Nursing Education. 63 (7): 435–443. doi:10.3928/01484834-20240505-08. ISSN   0148-4834.

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