Doing it for themselves: students creating a high quality peer-learning environment

Abstract

To support our students during their study and exam preparation we have developed a novel synoptic revision exercise using the online PeerWise system. Academic staff involvement was passive after introducing the assignment to the cohort via scaffolding activities, thus generating an entirely student-led peer-learning environment for the task. Student engagement exceeded all expectations with high levels of activity and peer-learning occurring over a wide range of topics. We report on a detailed investigation of the quality of the student-generated content, involving two years of data with separate cohorts.The research project was evaluated and conducted under the BERA Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research, the University of Nottingham Code of Research Conduct and Research Ethics and the e-Ethics@Nottingham: Ethical Issues in Digitally Based Research guidelines. All student data sources were anonymised for use by the project team. The research activities were separate from the assessed coursework task that created the student content. Opinion comments from students were obtained via an anonymous online feedback questionnaire that included free text responses. Note that support material, examples of scaffolding materials and technical guidance screencasts are available online at: http://www.peerwise-community.org/ The analysis includes classification of the student question type (revised Bloom's taxonomy), investigation of the utility of the feedback/model answers, along with time-resolved analysis of activity during the coursework window. The research seeks to reveal the nature of student behaviour in a peer-review environment and alleviate some of the common concerns held by academics considering moving to this type of activity.