News & Events

Peer Instruction Tool Trains Learners' Reasoning In Online Courses

KEEP - 29 December 2017

Peer Instruction

Peer Instruction is a new question type introduced in the recent KEEP Open edX upgrade that emulates in-class discussion for a deeper understanding of concepts. In the question, on top of selecting the correct answer, learners can provide reasoning, read the ideas from their classmates and adjust their answers before final submission. Let’s see how it works!

Peer Instruction - Question

Now we have a question about where does the mass of a tree come from. It looks like an ordinary multiple-choice question, but users are suggested to provide support to their answer in the below text box.

Peer Instruction - Trial

Well...I am not sure what is the answer. But let me make a guess and let the teacher know my ideas first.

Peer Instruction - Others' responses

Oh - our trial is submitted but not as the final answer. We can now see what the others have submitted before. Seems the other options are also reasonable…so let me revise my answer then.

Peer Instruction - Final submission

Okay, let me submit this one and provide my explanation. Hope it’s the right choice!

Peer Instruction - Answer

Bingo! My revised answer is correct! I can still view my original answer. I can even know how our thoughts changed during the whole process.

Peer Instruction - Distribution

Yes, that is how the Peer Instruction tool works. If you are a teacher, you can even generate more random responses to brainstorm your students’ ideas. If you are a student, we hope you enjoy the progress of finding the right answer by sharing your thoughts among peers.

If you wish to know more about or encounter problems on using this tool, please do not hesitate to contact us at


Extended reading:

Peer Instruction Tool (Building and Running an edX Course, edX)