Teaching and Learning Conference 2019: Cosy bedfellows? Independent learning and peer interaction online

Independent learning is usually envisaged as something that students do alone. This presentation will challenge that assumption. On ‘The Making of Welsh History’ an online distance-learning dissertation module at the Open University the situation is quite the reverse. There the skills of independent learning are fostered through a variety of high-frequency online activities through which students share and feedback on each other's work ideas and interpretations. In this way they become co-teachers of their peers as well as independent researchers in their own right.