Collaborative intelligence can be understood as the collective capacity that emerges when individuals work together, sharing their knowledge, skills, and insights to solve problems or create new knowledge. One concept that I believe has not been sufficiently discussed yet is peer-to-peer learning. This approach goes beyond traditional teacher-student hierarchies and emphasizes how learners themselves become resources for one another, generating reciprocal benefits in understanding, application, and innovation.

Defining the Concept
Peer-to-peer learning refers to a collaborative process where learners of relatively equal status exchange knowledge, challenge one another’s assumptions, and co-construct meaning. In digital education environments such as MOOCs, this can take shape through discussion forums, collaborative projects, peer assessments, or even informal chat spaces. It leverages diversity within a learning community, ensuring that learning is not dependent on a single authority figure but rather distributed among participants.

Example in Practice
One practical example of peer-to-peer learning is seen in Coursera’s peer-reviewed assignments. Learners upload their work and then evaluate submissions from three to five peers based on a rubric. This process requires not only producing one’s own work but also critically engaging with others’ perspectives, thereby deepening comprehension. Research has shown that peer assessment improves critical thinking and reinforces content mastery (Topping, 2017). In fact, the dialogical exchange often provides learners with more diverse feedback than they would get from a single instructor.

Another emerging space for peer-to-peer learning is through wikis and collaborative documents, where learners can build shared knowledge bases. For example, a MOOC cohort might create a collective glossary of key terms, enhanced by examples from diverse contexts.