Peer-teaching can be a really effective learning tool. Giving learners a space and a structure to do this in the online course allows them to add to and personalise their online course and record their teaching for them to revisit at any time.
Examples
This example uses ideas from our article on know, think, wonder charts.
You could also use this as a useful method for revision.
Or put the call out in a talk channel or in-page discussion for learners to share all their different ways of using a skill or solving a problem. A great way to highlight diversity of approaches.
Benefits
Including peer-teaching in your online course allows...
Learners to see that you are not the keeper of knowledge. Learners see they have valuable skills to share which can help motivation.
Learners to better understand the thing they are teaching to a peer.
Learners to be taught by someone closer to their level of understanding (leveraging off the idea of the more knowledgeable (in an aspect) other).
Learners to personalise the online learning by adding their own teaching in.
Learners to revisit their teaching at any point.
Variations
Try peer evaluation instead. Support learners with tasks to give feedback on one another's work (that lives in the online course).
Ask learners to interview one another, either with structured questions or with them choosing questions to reach a goal of gathering particular information.
Combine peer teaching and cooperative learning with the jigsaw method (each learner learns a piece of a whole and combine in a group to learn the whole).