Combining peer-assistance and peer-assessment in a synchronous collaborative learning activity

One unique characteristic of learning systems that support peer collaboration is that these systems have the potential to supplement or replace softwarebased representations of domainand learner-models with the representations implicitly formed by peers. In order to realize this potential, a collaborative activity must sufficiently motivate peers to reflect, collect, and communicate these mental models. Peer-assessment represents a class of activities that address this challenge by design. In this work, we describe a project, currently under development, in which peer-assessment is melded with peer-instruction to create a new learning activity for an existing collaborative learning platform. We present the rationale behind the design of the activity, focusing specifically on how it draws from and synthesizes the three modes of learning supported by the Grockit platform: adaptive individual study, live collaborative small-group study, and instructor-led skill-focused lessons. By treating teaching as a demonstration of learning, we illustrate how a single activity can peer-assess mastery and peer-assist learning.