Reciprocal Peer Teaching: An Effective Tool for Engaging Students in A Virtual Classroom

Distance learning is growing in popularity all around the world with a steady increase in the birth of virtual classrooms. As the medium of education delivery changes, so do the roles of teachers, the dynamics of student’s engagement as much as learning outcomes. Alongside the opportunities these changes present, come real challenges which puts a demand on teachers to learn fast, fail fast and adapt winning strategies.

This piece suggests the use of reciprocal peer teaching as a tool for student’s engagement in a virtual classroom with emphasis on how and why. Considering the diverse perspectives on the meaning of student’s engagement among experts, the model of student’s engagement asserted here covers cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement and emotional engagement which can be measured by the learner’s personal involvement in the learning process.

Reciprocal Peer Teaching As An Engagement Tool

Thinking of an engagement tool that allows students to take more responsibility for their learning, builds communication skills by encouraging expression of ideas, develops self-learning attitudes, stimulates an enquiry mindset, boosts learner self-confidence and builds community learning spirit, the foremost that comes to mind is reciprocal peer teaching. It is a form of peer assisted learning strategy which involves students at the same grade level learning from each other in interchanging roles of a tutor and a learner.

How to Use The Reciprocal Peer Teaching Tool To Engage Learners In A Virtual Classroom

A teacher using this engagement tool will be functioning as a facilitator and a coach to guide learning, correct misconceptions, define the scope of learning and fill in learning gaps as is consistent with learning objectives.

1. Share topics, questions and problems with the whole class in advance.

This pre-informs learners about the structure, trajectory and scope of their learning over a period and keeps them in awareness and expectation. With the pool of destructions learners are exposed to during distance learning, sharing the scheme of work provides direction and guidance on what should be learnt and explored during out of virtual class hours.

2. Give all learners in class the responsibility to research each topic, find answers to questions and propose solutions to problems prior to given timelines.

Here, learners are empowered to take responsibility for reviewing, organizing, and consolidating existing knowledge and material in the process of searching for answers and understanding the unknown.

3. Group learners and assign a topic, question or problem to be solved out of the list earlier shared with the entire class.

At this stage, teachers should consider forming cooperative groups where diversity is the focus. In this sense, learners with diverse abilities and characteristics are put together in a group with the goal of helping one another complete assigned tasks.

4. Break down task within group members according to sub topics, sub questions and problem fragments under the main topic, question or problem assigned to the specific group.

Addressing the whole learner in developmentally appropriate ways includes establishing positive student relationships and encouraging each learner’s voice in creating productive learning climates. Giving each person a peer teaching responsibility avoids feelings of superiority on the part of any selected peer tutor and builds a learning culture on a group level as much as individual levels.

5. Give varied options for Knowledge Sharing.

The phenomenon of students taking less and less responsibility for their own learning is related to the fact that in many school systems, students have progressively fewer opportunities to make choices as they proceed from elementary through secondary school. In peer teaching, teachers must give student tutors the opportunity to share knowledge with their peers in their choicest methods as is possible in the virtual platform being used for synchronous learning. This can range from students sharing audios/videos of themselves explaining a concept, a drawing or written text, among others. This freedom allows learner self-expression and provides support for learning differences.

6. Remind the group that will lead a particular lesson prior to the beginning of a virtual class and allow each person time to share knowledge, findings and solutions with their peers during the class. By this, tutor and tutee roles are reciprocated within a group and among groups.

7. Have a gamified reward system

Here, teachers are expected to create activities in the form of a reward to encourage active learning on the part of both student tutors and tutees. This activity could be simply appreciating how well they understand a student led lesson by showing stars — where excellent understanding of knowledge shared would equal five stars and poor understanding equals one star. The purpose of a gamified reward system is to give students a sense of play while learning and at the same time motivate tutees to listen attentively to student led lessons. Peer tutors are as well encouraged to take responsibility and learn well to at least impress their peers with this gamified reward system.

8. Allow peer questioning and contribution from tutees after each peer-teacher has completed his/her submission.

Here peer teachers learn to communicate by explaining their thought processes in response to questions asked. They also learn to receive feedback and accept submissions from their colleagues.

9. Fill in the knowledge gap based on learning objectives after all members in a group have shared their knowledge, findings and solutions.

Most likely, there will be a thing or two that remains unlearned or insufficiently explored. Teachers must fill in the gaps while appreciating efforts of both peer teachers and tutees. This is also a good time to comment on student’s delivery, communication, composure and other critical learning behaviors and provide necessary coaching.

As distance learning comes with lots of destructions, proper time management on the part of learners is essential to maximize learning. The ‘Peer Teaching Student’s Engagement Tool’ keeps students engaged both outside and inside virtual learning environments and the ‘Reciprocity’ provides equal opportunity for all through interchanging tutor and tutee roles. However, this tool should not replace whole class instruction. Rather, it should be used as an additional tool to enhance student’s engagement. Teachers should also share a pool of resources from which students can make enquiry and seek answers to questions guiding an upcoming lesson.

Author: Priscilla B. Appiah

Education Policy & Pedagogy Researcher — Teacher -Teacher Trainer -Instructional Design Consultant -EdTech Coach. Team Lead — EDUCATION 360