PEER LEARNING OF STUDENTS IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE LOCKDOWN

Abstract

The educational process at higher education institutions was adversely affected by the lockdown launched in 2020 to deal with COVID-19 pandemic. It was transferred online, which was a challenge for all the participants of the distance learning. Among the problems was the issue of providing individual support for the students under the conditions of learning online in big groups.

The article’s purpose is to prove the importance of peer learning for the students studying the English language on quarantine, and to offer the methods and techniques for organizing and monitoring the process. Methodology of this work is based on the analysis of scientific and methodological literature, as well as on the practical experience of involving students in peer learning both before and during the lockdown. Scientific novelty is proved by the fact that for the first time in the national methodology not only the advantages of peer learning have been considered, but also the practical steps of organizing the process for the students on quarantine have been suggested.

Authors have come to the conclusion that the process of peer learning, which has always been part of students’ life, can partially compensate for the lack of individual support that students on the quarantine feel. Students can be motivated, taught and encouraged to act as «tutors» to enhance the process of distance learning. The best thing is that everyone benefits from it: the student who is tutored, masters the subject better and gains higher test scores; the student-tutor improves his/her own skills, gets teaching experience and the feeling of satisfaction from the results as well as a bonus; the teacher gets an additional resource to achieve academic success. Under the conditions of the lockdown, peer learning lets the teacher optimize his/her time and efforts, and provides mechanisms for involving students who lack technical equipment.