various terms in peer learning

[car...@authenticityconsulting.com]

I'm hoping to "seed" some discussions, including some that we can share with others who are considering joining the list.  Here are some terms that I've shared in discussions about peer learning.  What do you think?

Learning:  Enhanced – or enhancing – knowledge, skills and attitudes.  Activities are not, in and of themselves, learning.  So when identifying learning, be sure not to just identify a list of activities.

Peer learning:  Learning generated from the interactions and activities shared by peers.  Peer learning is not a specific group process or format – peer learning is an outcome from a wide variety of group processes and formats, for example, group discussions, dialogues and action learning.  Some companies “brand” the names of a particular group format, for example, Learning Circles, Leaders Circles or Leadership Circles.  It’s important to be consistent, as much as practical, when associating a certain peer format with the brand.

Peers (in peer learning):  Participants in peer learning are “peers” in that they take participate as equals to enhance each other’s learning – they each have equal responsibility.  Peers does not mean that they are peers on an organization chart.

Coaching (personal and professional):  Activities, especially generative questioning, with a client to: 1) clarify the client’s current priority, 2) explore the client’s perceptions and assumptions about that priority, 3) help the client identify relevant and realistic actions to address the priority, 4) take those actions, and 5) learn from the coaching and reflection on those actions.  A priority can be a problematic issue, exciting goal or other current and important situation.  Coaching produces an outcome of learning.

[Teri McNamara]

I agree with these definitions, with one caveat.

 

I think that in common discussion about this topic, "peer learning" is used not only for the outcome that you mention, but for the activities and interactions that lead to that outcome.  I encounter this usage so often that I struggle with what I think the definition should be.

 

That difference can create confusion about intent and scope in conversations amongst our community and with our clients, so I appreciate you seeding this discussion.  I look forward to hearing from others.

 

Teri McNamara

Authenticity Consulting, LLC

763.971.8890  direct

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[Rey Carr]

I like and agree with the Carter's definitions, and also agree with Teri's caveat that "peer learning" is both an outcome and a process. Peer learning also has a long and strong history of being ignored, minimized, and even disbelieved.

When I started my university teaching career, I experimented with a variety of ways to include peer learning in my classes. While relatively simple to describe and implement, peer learning was strongly rejected by students as having legitimacy or credibility. "What could I possibly learn from my peers as compared to my instructor that could possibly be of value for my....grade, test results, or learning?" students would ask. Sometimes, I would cheekily answer, "Well, their names for one thing!"

Over the years I found that teaching students how to learn from their peers was essential to just being an advocate for peer learning. This is when I introduced the experiential learning model, particularly the "so what" and "now what" parts. In this way when students were engaged in debriefing an activity with each other they not only learned their peers observations, feelings and reactions, but they also learned what meaning their peers assigned to that learning; how that matched or differed from their own learning; how they resolved the differences and what principles, axioms, or ideas the derived as a result; and, probably most importantly, what they planned to do with that learning.

Once students learned this model of interacting with their peers (and they could facilitate the process with relative ease and continuity, their respect for peer learning went way up and they determined it to be a highly credible, authentic, and valued source of learning.

As an offshoot of this increasing valuing of peer learning, my classes had a significant increase in attendance, particularly when other students heard that peers grading peers played a major role in the final course grade. (How I did this is a story for another post, but eventually the university senate ruled that "student self-assessment may not be used for any part of a student's final grade.")

[Eva Francis]

Hi, good definitions. My thoughts resonate with Teri's and Rey's: learning as outcome and a process. Ray: you will be pleased to learn that during my postgraduate MA in Management peer assessment played a major role in each assignment/and overall the final course grade.

Building on Teri's thought (I slightly changed it ;-)How can we simplify and avoid creating confusion about intent and scope in conversations amongst our community and with our clients?

I am planning to share link to this network with some of my colleagues and I was asking myself how can I briefly explain in an e-mail what this is about. So, reading our exchange so far I would probably say something like: The intent and scope of our conversations within this network is about any approaches/strategies that enable change (i.e. learning) of behaviour, practice, positive shifts in skills, knowledge, mindsets with the help of peers through e.g. conversations. 

 I like Carter's explanation of Peers and Coaching.

Carter - thanks for starting the conversation.

I wonder what others think?

Best Ewa

[Jonathan Hefter]

I agree Teri. This tension / relationship between process and outcomes is a constant one for us, particularly in our corporate programs work.

Jonathan Hefter

Founding Team Member

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[Carter McNamara]

Thank you for the insightful comments!

 

There’s something about the phase “peer learning” that feels like talking to a very good friend.  It feels wholesome, nurturing and accessible.

 

Having said that, I’m realizing from this discussion that I’ve become more conditioned to talking more specifically with clients, e.g., I’ll refer to the format and kind of exchange that produces the outcome of peer learning.  I’ve become conditioned for several reasons:

1.     The more specific that I can get the client to be about their preferred outcomes, e.g., behaviors and actions, then the more focused I can design the group process to be, including about what the group chooses to get coached on, the actions that they self-select, and the kinds of learning they can expect (I usually talk in terms of primary and secondary outcomes).

2.     The more specific, the easier it is to market, especially internally in organizations because they see a specific result 

3.     The more specific, the easier it is to evaluate whether the results have been achieved or not.

4.     The more specific, the easier it is to talk to the client when their preferred result is different than what is being produced (which is a natural occurrence with the unfolding nature of coaching J

5.     The more specific, the more focused and constructive the conversation can be.  I’ve learned that lesson painfully several times over the years when one of us continues to talk about broad outcomes and the other is talking specific formats.  See : https://managementhelp.org/blogs/consulting-skills/2017/02/13/disconnected-conversations-can-hurt-consulting/

 

Thanks!

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD

AuthenticityConsulting.com

ConsultantsDevelopmentInstitute.org

ActionLearningSource.com

Managementhelp.org

800-971-2250 toll free in North America

763-971-8890 direct

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[Valerie Lingeman]

Hello PL Community!

I love this conversation about outcome and process.  I agree that learning happens as a result of both, in peer learning circles.  Rey's post -- discussing the many dimensions of learning that unfolded for his students over time -- speaks to what jazzes me most about peer learning: the secondary, tertiary, and ongoing ripple effect outcomes that emerge from a peer learning process.  These are different for every group, and I think more visible in organizations and intact communities, where circle participants continue to run into each other even after their formal PL experience is over.  Who can measure the impact of helping someone shift their worldview?  Who can put number$ behind the benefit that someone in an organization now has six or seven other trusted colleagues they can hit up on an instant message chat when they are facing a dilemma and need help thinking it through?  And the value of shifting a belief that yes, it might actually be possible to form trusted professional relationships that are characterized by a degree of intimacy?  I think the peer learning process helps participants experience a different way of being together in organizations and communities that yields unexpected and unquantifiable outcomes.

[Eva Francis]

Hi Val

I really like what you said about the uniqueness of P2P learning especially 'professional relationships that are characterized by a degree of intimacy' and 'being together in organizations and communities that yields unexpected and unquantifiable outcomes'

Both nicely link with Carter's points especially about outcomes of P2P Learning.

E