Fostering Peer Learning through a New Game-Theoretical Approach in a Blended Learning Environment
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Obtaining knowledge and skill achievement through peer learning can lead to higher academic achievement. However, peer learning implementation is not just about putting students together and hoping for the best. At its worst-designed, peer learning may result in one person doing all the effort for instance, or may fail to encourage the students to interact enough with the task and so enhance the task in hand. This study proposes a mechanism as well as an instructional design to foster well-organized peer learning based on game theory (PD_PL). The proposed mechanism uses prisoner's dilemma and maps the strategy and payoff concepts found in prisoner's dilemma onto a peer learning atmosphere. PD_PL was implemented during several sessions of four university courses and with 142 computer engineering students. pre-test and post-test exams of all the sessions were compared with R software through Paired Hotelling's T-Square analysis in order to investigate the impacts of PD_PL and the proposed instructional design on students' personal learning. The study results indicated that PD_PL was beneficial and favourable to the students. Further analysis showed that the PD_PL had sometimes even enhanced learning by up to 47.2%. respondents found PD_PL to be an attractive and efficient tool for learning enhancement. and tools will find this study interesting.
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