The Peer Effect
Last week I finished a 4 week course on peer-led approaches called Huddlecraft 101. I was eager to learn how to harness the power of peers in the learning experiences we are creating at NextLeap and how I can apply them in my own practice as a designer and a learning nerd!
I believe that the best courses are the ones that leave with you more questions than answers (alongwith some knowledge/ tools/ community to solve them!).
Here are 3 questions that the course sparked & that I am excited to dig deeper into -
1/ Can peers help if they are still learning themselves?
This is a big one. Mastery creates a big divide in the learning space. We believe that teachers and instructors ‘know more than you’ and hence can teach. But teaching is not synonymous to mastery. Learning by teaching is one of the best ways to learn. Here is my working answer to the above question:
Peers can help because they understand the context of the learner the most. They speak the same language and can better connect learnings to their real world.
A peer group can often function like a jigsaw puzzle - with everyone bringing a piece or two together. One might not know something that their peer might be good at.
Peers might not always be in the position to differentiate right from wrong. But they can help you clarify, discuss, apply and deepen learning
2/ How can individuals strengthen the group?
One of the first things we spoke about in the course was the idea of ‘self’. How individuals much like fractals are the fundamental unit that make up any peer group. For peer groups to thrive, individuals must thrive. Some ways in which I see this panning out:
While building peer led learning experiences, focus on the individual first.
Build in moments of reflection for self among its other facets. Help people process and deepen their learning.
Recognise different facets of an individuals identity and create a safe space for people to express that and be themselves. Note to self: anxiousness, pretence and judgement are not conducive to learning.
3/ How can we facilitate peer groups we are not a part of?
A question we are exploring deeply through our fellowships at NextLeap. Successful peer groups have ownership from the group itself - as a designer this becomes tricky to facilitate. Some things I’ve seen work in the past:
Get the group to create their manifesto. Get them to collaboratively arrive at their name, rituals, ways of working instead of pushing that.
Give them a ‘container’ to work with. Define the what and why and let them figure out the how.
Figure out ways to check-in with the group and course correct. Take continuous feedback! Iterate.
Excited to sink my teeth in, find more answers and discover more questions.
Have some ideas or would like to jam on the above? I’d love to hear from you!
Face illustrations by Sarah Rudkin from TheNounProject