Using Peer Instruction Method – Teacher Workshop Experience

Abstract

The Peer Instruction method is an active teaching method that encourages students to think, act and argue continuously. Students are guided to answer questions and solve relevant problems mainly through the exercise of higher mental processes. The Peer Instruction method is based on questioning, so a strong emphasis is placed on formulating questions. Based on the possibilities of the method, it is highly recommended to expand it more widely and implement it into everyday educational practice. In the paper, we present workshops designed for university teachers to introduce the Peer Instruction method and we summarize our experiences as well. Specially, we deal with the preparation and implementation of the workshops and also analyse their progress. We give examples of questions formulated by workshop participants, present online and offline e-voting tools, and summarize teachers´ opinions on the method as well as on the workshop itself.