Peer learning is a method of learning from your peers, in a formal or informal context.

A lot of peer learning happens at work, and in a learning context, peer learning requires structure, rules, facilitation, and monitoring.
Peer learning is often one of the things students enjoy the most.

Peer Learning is Already in Our Daily Lives We learn from our peers everyday – from articles, online forums, social media, on the job, and more.

Peer learning is a decentralized version of the classroom where learning is centralized on the instructor.

In a work environment where projects are king and collaboration is key, people have many more opportunities to learn from their peers naturally as part of their work. In engineering, this could be via debugging, sharing resources, troubleshooting an incident, etc.

Problem solving and critical thinking

Creativity and innovation

Good Communication

Collaboration and teamwork

Having Flexibility

Ability to solve complex problems

What is Peer Learning and
How Does It Happen at Qwasar?

Peer code reviews
Student small groups
Group work and assignments
Case studies and discussions
Engineering Labs and group work
Discord channels
Stack Overflow, Youtube, and other online resources

FUTURE-PROOF YOURSELF

At the core of both project-based learning and peer review is the skill of learning how to learn. Whether it’s investigating and researching relevant topics for a new project or trying to understand the structure and reasoning for a review’s work, students learn how to learn.

remember understand apply

understand apply analyse

apply analyse evaluate

Create

apply analyse evaluate

Create

analyse evaluate

Create

analyse evaluate

Create

evaluate understand

Create

evaluate understand

evaluate remember

Peer Reviews Are a Learning Tool and Industry Standard

Peer code reviews are an industry standard and part of every engineer or developer’s job. They help maintain high quality, decrease bugs and errors, reduce future tech debt, and more.

Students learn in being reviewed and in reviewing, and are operating at the top four levels of the skills pyramid. Reviewers must evaluate, analyze, think critically, and create ways to break the submitted solution and construct tests.

Reviewers must actively participate, engage, and respond. This is different from passive learning such as lectures, presentations, MOOCs, or watching online videos.

MOOCs

Bootcamps
CS Degrees

Holberton

Qwasar

Lectures +
Simple exercises

Lectures +
1 Real project

Lectures +
5 Real project

10 Real projects + Instructors

All projects, no Instructors

Learners do not develop soft skills Learners develop 21st-century skills and soft skills

Project Progression and Difficulty We spend a lot of time analyzing the complexity, difficulty, and cognitive challenge of each project. This ties deeply to learning science and our experience in learning design.
The vast majority of other providers do not understand or apply project-based learning science or cognitive development science to their curricula. At Qwasar, it is the very core of what we do and where we have years of experience.

How Peer Code Reviews Work

Peer Learning

and the Learning Community

In giving and receiving peer reviews, students learn how to communicate about their work and how to give and receive feedback. This is important for developing soft skills as well as preparing for the workplace where peer reviews are generally part of tech jobs.

By participating as a reviewer and a reviewee, learners contribute to the overall learning community. Reviewers also receive feedback from reviewees, providing motivation for reviewers in a manner similar to what occurs in the workplace.

Similar to the process for reviewing academic articles, the peer review process is the evaluation of submitted work by your peers who are competent in their field of knowledge. The peer review process requires analysis, critical thinking, and creativity in order to evaluate submitted work.

The reviewee may have to explain what they have done and why, which helps them to develop communication skills. Reviewers need to understand quickly and identify possible areas where the submitted work does not meet project criteria, standards, or best practices.

COMPLETE

A PROEJCT

Earn project or experience points for each project successfully completed.

SPEND

POINTS

To submit a project for review, to be graded, learners spend points.

EARN POINTS

Each time a learner completes a peer code review for another learner, they earn points. Learners also earn points each day they log on.

COMMUNITY POINTS

Learners can also earn points by helping out other learners in the community, answering questions in our forums.

Qwasar Alumni Quote

“I think I should do more peer reviews. They’re an opportunity to learn. I get to see how someone else has done their algorithms or solution and learn other ways of solving the problem differently than how I did it.”

What is Peer Learning
and How Does It Happen at

Engineering
Labs and
group work

Case
studies and
discussions

Group work and
assignments

Student
small groups

Stack Overflow,
Youtube, and other
online resources

Peer code
reviews

Discord
channels

Peer Learning is Backed by Scientific Research

Below we share selected academic research articles on peer learning.

Peer Code Reviews Improve Code Effectiveness Tool-assisted code review improve the efficiency and effectiveness of code reviews – part of the Qwasar platform. Learn more

Peer Learning Overview Take a comprehensive look at peer learning from an academic point of view in Boud, Cohen, and Sampson’s book. Learn more

Trends in Peer Learning Over Multiple Decades Keith Topping looks at the trends and progress of peer learning over a couple of decades. Learn more

Peer Assessment in Project-based Learning A constructivist perspective on peer assessment in project-based learning. Learn more

Peer Learning Outcomes Improving the outcomes in software engineering education through problem based learning and peer learning. Learn more

Peer Reviews Explore the value of peer reviews in software engineering and their effectiveness. Learn more

Peer learning is a method of learning from your peers, in a formal or informal context.

A lot of peer learning happens at work, and in a learning context, peer learning requires structure, rules, facilitation, and monitoring.
Peer learning is often one of the things students enjoy the most.

Peer Reviews Are a Learning Tool and Industry Standard Peer code reviews are an industry standard and part of every engineer or developer’s job. They help maintain high quality, decrease bugs and errors, reduce future tech debt, and more.
Students learn in being reviewed and in reviewing, and are operating at the top four levels of the skills pyramid. Reviewers must evaluate, analyze, think critically, and create ways to break the submitted solution and construct tests.

Reviewers must actively participate, engage, and respond. This is different from passive learning such as lectures, presentations, MOOCs, or watching online videos.

remember understand apply

understand apply analyse

apply analyse evaluate

Create

apply analyse evaluate

Create

analyse evaluate

Create

analyse evaluate

Create

evaluate understand

Create

evaluate understand

evaluate remember

Selected Gamification in
Learning Research

Below we share some links to academic research articles or papers on gamification in learning.

Gamification Respected author Karl Knapp explores a solid overview of gamification in learning in his book, sharing what works and what doesn’t.

Learn more

Learning Behaviours Richard Langers looks at the use of gamification, game attribute taxonomies, and psychological theories.

Learn more

Overview Part of the Advances in Game-based Learning series, Gamification in Learning defines and explores the category.

Learn more

Gamification to Encourage High Quality Code Explore this article by ACM on using gamification to motivate learners and produce better quality code.

Learn more

E-Learning Learn more about how gamification is incorporated into e-learning for programming courses.

Learn more

Gamification for Programming Take a look at this article on how gamification is useful for programming in particular.

Learn more

Virtual Webinars

Join us for a session on what learning is like at Qwasar. Sign up to learn more about our program options and how each cohort works.

Learn more

Student Experience vs. Others

How do Qwasar programs compare to other tech training options out there? Find out how we stack up.

Learn more

View Platform

Software drives our programs and learners access one of the world’s most innovative learning platforms for tech talent training.

Learn more

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QWASAR What is Peer Learning?

A modern approach to learning from others in the flow of work.

Peer learning is a method of learning from your peers, in a formal or informal context.
A lot of peer learning happens at work, and in a learning context, peer learning requires structure, rules, facilitation, and monitoring.

Peer learning is often one of the things students enjoy the most.

A senior engineer mentoring a junior.

A student doing rotations under a nurse.

An apprentice and an electrician.

An executive coaching a senior manager.

CEOs sharing at a conference.

remember

understand

apply

analyse

evaluate

Create

Explaining What is Peer Learning?

Peer learning is at the core of our approach. Students collaborate through peer code reviews, work in small groups, and tackle group assignments that mirror real-world projects. Case studies and discussions help deepen understanding, while Engineering Labs provide hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies. Collaboration extends beyond the classroom, with active engagement through Discord channels, and students are encouraged to leverage resources like Stack Overflow, YouTube, and other online platforms to expand their knowledge and solve challenges efficiently.

Code Reviews
from peers

Group Work
& assignments

Engineering Lab
group projects

Case Studies
for engineers

Pair Programming

Small groups led by students

Peer Reviews Are a Learning Tool and Industry Standard Peer code reviews are an industry standard and part of every engineer or developer’s job. They help maintain high quality, decrease bugs and errors, reduce future tech debt, and more.

Students learn in being reviewed and in reviewing, and are operating at the top four levels of the skills pyramid. Reviewers must evaluate, analyze, think critically, and create ways to break the submitted solution and construct tests.

Reviewers must actively participate, engage, and respond. This is different from passive learning such as lectures, presentations, MOOCs, or watching online videos.

How Peer Code Reviews Work

Peer Learning and the Learning Community

In giving and receiving peer reviews, students learn how to communicate about their work and how to give and receive feedback. This is important for developing soft skills as well as preparing for the workplace where peer reviews are generally part of tech jobs.

By participating as a reviewer and a reviewee, learners contribute to the overall learning community. Reviewers also receive feedback from reviewees, providing motivation for reviewers in a manner similar to what occurs in the workplace. Similar to the process for reviewing academic articles, the peer review process is the evaluation of submitted work by your peers who are competent in their field of knowledge. The peer review process requires analysis, critical thinking, and creativity in order to evaluate submitted work.

The reviewee may have to explain what they have done and why, which helps them to develop communication skills. Reviewers need to understand quickly and identify possible areas where the submitted work does not meet project criteria, standards, or best practices.