In retrospect, it seems amazing that it’s taken this long for peer-to-peer learning to come into its own. Teacher-centred learning is what most of us grew up with – and for a lot of us, it may not have been as effective as it could have been.
Essentially, you’re listening and interacting with the expert sitting at their desk at the head of the class, seeing other students as simply neighbours at best, and competitors for coveted ‘gold star’ treatment at worst. Even worse, some of us recall group projects in high school or college where one or two people did the lion’s share of the work, while the free-riders in the group coasted along, secure in the knowledge that the ones doing the heavy lifting would get the job done for them. For a lot of us, the experience left a bitter taste in our mouths.
Thankfully, that model is a thing of the past. The best kind of peer-to-peer learning model – and one that we’ve implemented at Erickson, totally flips it. We chatted with Amy Davis Bruner, a Professional Online Coach and Erickson Facilitator, on how the new way can help students learn better.
How does the flipped classroom and peer-to-peer learning work in practice?
Amy: In the past, most of the classroom time was involved in listening to lectures. At most, you’d get one-third of the time to break into groups and discuss or work on an assignment before debrief. This flips it, so students are able to do more with the information. They’re developing case studies from their work, in class.
What are case studies?
Amy: We know that people learn better when they can apply what they’ve learned to the real world. The Art & Science of Coaching students develop solutions for real-world problems. This comes from the students themselves, who are setting up their own practices or using their coaching skills in an organization. They can take those challenges they’re facing at work to their learning cohort, who will use what they’ve just learned to help that student come up with solutions right now, in real time.
Can you give me an example of working through a case study with peers?
Amy: One of our coaching students worked for a large engineering firm working in Japan. The company was going to be downsizing. This coach who brought the problem to the group was a manager of a team that would be downsized. Their job was to offer a severance package to his employee and help that person get transitioned into another job outside the company, or to put them into a different team inside the company.
That’s definitely a real-world problem.
Amy: Absolutely. In this case, the coaches were learning how to use the ‘Balance Wheel’ coaching tool, which helps you deal with a complicated, seemingly insurmountable issue with many moving parts. The Balance Wheel is a structure that chunks down the information into bite-sized pieces that can be analyzed. The peers in the group were able to come up with questions to ask those affected, to help them decide what they wanted to do with their future. That would ultimately help the person in charge of the process do what was right for those employees and the company. Dealing with a real-world problem, the students are highly engaged because they know that, when they’re learning, they’re getting the insight and expertise of people who can really help them come up with real solutions. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a real-world problem every time. You can learn very well with imaginary or hypothetical case studies.
How does that work?
Amy: Peers can work on a total fantasy organization where they’re able to push the boundaries. In these situations, participants are practicing taking risks they might not otherwise take. So, you fantasize and create an organization that makes $5 billion and decisions related to that. When you apply it to a million-dollar decision, it doesn't seem like that much of a big deal anymore. You’re able to use skills and processes to help make that happen.
Check out the next part of the interview in Learning without Lectures. Optimizing the Flipped Classroom.