Abstract:

We are part of a team of collaborators from across the globe working with synchronous and asynchronous technologies to collaboratively explore and develop ‘Peeragogy’, a collection of practical techniques for collaborative learning and collaborative work. Use cases for these techniques include peer learning and research co-production. Alongside our shared informal learning in the Peeragogy Project, several of us are employed as instructors in formal education settings. Here, we explore the interface between these two worlds. This paper shows how a graduate class was instructed to use Beautiful Soup for a final project in a web assisted course. We started with step-by-step installation instructions for both Windows and Unix systems, and quickly moved into practical applications. The focus was on retrieving data from major educational and economic websites, such as those of the World Bank. We used standard teaching methods to explain the tools and assignments. Students then worked together in groups, teaching each other in a more peeragogical manner. The results of these student collaborations will be described. In addition, we reflect briefly on other examples at the interface between peeragogy and formal teaching. Our conclusions point to the need for more work on refining techniques that can support peeragogy within traditional educational settings.

Keywords:

AI, education, paragogy, peeragogy, peer learning.