How students/learners cultivate skills and enhance their knowledge through peer learning?
StackOverflow is not merely a reference site, it is a consequence of collaborative knowledge sharing on a global scale. It reveals a new way of sharing expertise and knowledge via a nontraditional method. Typically, a student or learner has a problem/issue, so they search on google for answers, and wolla there is StackOverflow in the search results. 90% of the time they’ll find a solution. This way of sharing knowledge and experience is very practical. StackOverflow then resulted in StackExchange which is a collection of over 100 sites and growing to share knowledge in domains other than programming
StackExchange is flourishing through an open approach and driven by crowdsourcing on the web. Individuals are participating in the community by posting their queries, and experts or anyone how has solution responds with no expectations of remuneration. The entire platform helps a participating member showcase his expertise and allow other even anonymous users to gain from it. This perpetually expanding body of knowledge is authoritative, informative, and can be accessed globally.
Sharing of knowledge and ideas openly has revolutionized the way in which learners can acquire new skills or resolve issues. This cooperative movement fosters confidence, sense of community, knowledge building by sharing and contributing back to the community. Learning can be achieved via knowledge organized in a peer-to-peer, decentralized and collaborative networks that grow perpetually.
This joint learning propels and transforms the development of an individual’s problem-solving skill to a level never possible before. The approach of peer-to-peer sharing and learning is turning to learn by sharing into a game changer in our knowledge-based economy.
Why does peer-to-peer learning help?
- Sustainable: as one gathers knowledge through co-production and co-tutoring it becomes less burdensome to produce more of it and hence sustainable.
- Recognition: Recognition from peers is a big incentive and the drive to be part of the community is insatiable.
- Collaboration: Solving issue through cooperation and sharing. is more exciting than to act like a loner. It increases enjoyment in learning.
- Persuasion: Once you provide and get help from the community, it each to persuade others to do the same.
- Emotional bondage: It allows one to build emotional bondage with the community and a goal of sharing for a collective benefit.
- Reciprocity: One feels “meaningful” by supporting the group.
- Give back: As one is sharing the knowledge openly, it is available to others. It can be made available over time. It can’t be monopolized.
- Feel good: You feel good that you belong to the trendy and innovative group
- Networking: It helps you to expand your network with the like-minded people.
How is peer-to-peer learning achieved? – By contributing, sharing, gamification, leaderboards & more…
Typically learning platforms of today follow a structured course content approach. For for the future we need a digital platform can help you to share-and-learn easily. It should support synchronous as well as the asynchronous mode of learning. While using it, a learner should be able to refer to his peer’s activities. We need hyperlearning content similar to hyperlinks in HTML which is self-organized, ranked, curated and maintained by peer networks.
Digital platform’s stickiness can be increase through gamification. It rewards learners for accomplishing the desired tasks. The gamification improves learner’s participation, motivation, engagement, and loyalty. The leaderboard shows a learner where they rank relative to their peers. The presence of a leaderboard inspires others to take on more challenges.
Summary
Peer learning networks excite team members to learn, compete, and complete tasks together and fosters team building by sharing.
