Pedagogical Approaches With Canvas

Peer Learning

How to Use Peer Learning
Impact on Learning
Assessment Strategies
Peer Learning in Canvas
Relevant Technologies
Things to Consider
Bibliography

Peer learning is a form of active, cooperative learning used for college-level instruction. Fundamentally, peer learning is built off the role of social interaction (discussion or dialogue) and takes it one step further and places the student in the role of being a peer teacher, either formally or informally. In this teaching approach, some type of a two­-way, reciprocal learning activity is designed for students to learn from each other by addressing misconceptions and clarifying misunderstandings. Typically, students explain their thoughts and ideas to each other, discuss concepts, or find solutions to problems. This process forces them to think through their arguments and assess their understanding of the concepts being taught.

How to Use Peer Learning

The following are some of the ways this teaching approach is used to engage students:

  • discussion groups (synchronous and asynchronous in class and online)
  • social media such as Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) by Microsoft
  • preplanned, intermittent, brief discussions in the classroom

Stump your partner

  • Students create a difficult question based on the lecture content.
  • Pose the question to the person sitting next to you.
  • Adaptation: Ask students to write their questions and hand them in or list them electronically with a tool like Padlet. These questions can be used to create assessments or reviews for student understanding.
  • Potential for use with response systems or polling.

Think-­pair­-share/write­-pair­-share

  • Ask a question that requires students to use higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, or synthesis.
  • Students briefly think about a response.
  • Students turn to a partner (or small groups) and share their thoughts. (Adaptation: Ask students to find someone who arrived at an answer different from their own and convince their partner to change their mind.)
  • Responses are shared with the whole class during a follow-up discussion.

Catch­up

  • Stop at a transition point in your lecture.
  • Have students turn to a partner or work in small groups to compare notes and ask clarifying questions.
  • After a few minutes, open the floor to ask a few questions.

Fishbowl debate

  • Students work in groups of three to debate a topic among their small group.
  • Each student is assigned a role. One person debates pro and the other debates con; the third plays the role of scribe, then decides which side is most convincing and argues his or her choice.
  • Wrap up by calling on a few groups to summarize their discussions.
  • Adaptation: This activity can be done virtually as well.

Impact on Learning

Better learning

According to research, instructional activities that are social, contextual, and engaging lead to deeper learning.

Employability skills

Peer learning encourages students to work effectively with others in small groups or teams, practice interpersonal communication, and consider diverse thoughts.

Efficient teaching

Using technology, students can interact in ways that could only be done previously through costly tutorial sessions directed by teaching staff in a physical location. Students, instructors, and teaching assistants can now virtually engage in formal and informal discussion, review and analysis of ideas, and critical review of related literature, and practice sharing independent views. These interactions can easily be shared with the broader learning community.

Students are exposed to other students’ perspectives, and this can help them develop a better understanding of the topic.

Assessment Strategies

Some forms of peer learning are informal and less inclined to be used as a graded activity, such as think­-pair-­share. However, often these less informal approaches can be used as a form of summative assessment, basically “taking the temperature” of the class regarding how well they seem to understand a particular concept. Often, polling or clickers (response systems) are used in conjunction with these activities to determine where the class stands before and after the peer learning activity.

Other forms of peer learning can easily be used for either summative or formative assessment. For example, regularly scheduled written discussion forums can be graded for level of student involvement and checked for comprehension. Rubrics are useful for providing evaluation expectations.

Peer Learning in Canvas

Canvas provides several options for peer-to-peer student interactions, including peer review and discussions. VoiceThread, which integrates with Canvas, allows for asynchronous discussions and debates. This type of communication among students can allow students to learn from each other and master the concepts covered in the course.

Peer review discussion

Through peer review discussions students can provide feedback on each other’s replies to class discussions. Peer reviews can only be added as part of a graded discussion. To learn more, go to “How do I create a peer review discussion?”

Peer review assignment

Through peer review assignments, students can provide feedback on each other’s assignment submissions. Peer reviews can be assigned to either show student names or be shared anonymously. To learn more, visit “How do I create a peer review assignment?”

Peer discussion and debates

VoiceThread enables asynchronous discussions and debates. For example, instructors can pose math-related questions or prompts, and students can respond with their voice, webcam, or text comments, engaging in meaningful discussions. This encourages students to justify their mathematical reasoning, consider alternative perspectives, and deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts.

Relevant Technologies

Viva Engage: Students enrolled in a specific course can post questions and comments, and other students or their instruction team can respond. This has been found to help clarify concepts that students did not grasp from the assigned reading or course activities.

Sites at Penn State: Students enrolled in a specific course can be assigned an activity to post discussion blogs regularly in response to questions carefully constructed by the instructor, to generate a forum where students share their learning and real-world experiences.

VoiceThread: This online communication and presentation tool can be used for peer-to-peer asynchronous discussion and easily shares images, videos, voice comments, documents, and written comments.

Top Hat: Discussions in Top Hat can be used as a powerful peer learning tool. You can use the various response configurations to change the way that students interact with the Discussion board. Try using different Top Hat discussions—one to facilitate appeals, and another for peer-to-peer feedback.

Things to Consider

For successful implementation of peer learning, you should consider the following strategies:

  • Peer learning works better in some courses than in others. Before implementing, evaluate the context in which the peer learning strategy is to be implemented, considering the educational philosophies found in the course.
  • Be sure to align the use of peer learning strategies with some specific knowledge or skill that you want the learners to grasp.
  • Provide support resources for faculty and students that give an overview of peer learning strategies and outline the different roles and responsibilities for using a different learning approach.
  • Like any learning approach, the strategies used should be aligned with the assessment tasks.

Bibliography

Drew, C. (2023, August 31). Peer to peer learning – examples, benefits & strategies. Helpful Professor. https://helpfulprofessor.com/peer-learning/

Krych, A. J., March, C. N., Bryan, R. E., Peake, B. J., Pawlina, W., & Carmichael, S. W. (2005). Reciprocal peer teaching: Students teaching students in the gross anatomy laboratory. Clinical Anatomy, 18(4), 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.20090

Lasry, N., Mazur, E., & Watkins, J. (2008). Peer instruction: From Harvard to the two-year college. American Journal of Physics, 76(11), 1066–1069. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.2978182

Sampson, J., & Cohen, R. (2001). Designing peer learning. In D. Boud, R. Cohen, & J. Sampson (Eds.), Peer Learning in Higher Education: Learning From & With Each Other (1st ed., pp. 21–34). Stylus Publishing. https://books.google.com/books?id=dHN9AwAAQBAJ

Wilson, C., Arshad, R., Sapouna, Μ., McGillivray, D., & Zihms, S. (2023). ‘PGR Connections’: Using an online peer-learning pedagogy to support doctoral researchers. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 60(3), 390–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2022.2141292

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