forward thinking Dave Lutz, CMP Peering Forward

In the world of conference education, the future is not necessarily about the next high-tech gadget or innovative session format. It’s about something that is as old as shag carpeting. It’s called peerology.

S ME — Subject Matter Experts

— has long been an important component of education-session

development. But it’s time “SME” stood for something else: Subject Mat- ter Experienced. And that leads us to peerology. Also known as “peeragogy,” peerol-

ogy is basically about peers learning together. Peerology allows organiza- tions to engage individuals at a level that can actually change their brains. University of California, Berkeley professor Marian C. Diamond is one of the foremost researchers on neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. According to her research, humans learn more by work- ing together. The concept of peerology has been

around since the 1970s, but it has taken on a new role as conferences have evolved from having a passive to a more participatory culture. Attendees are no longer satisfied with listening to a speaker drone on and on. They want to be active participants in their own learning as they construct their own mental maps of the topic at hand. Peerology is simply about peers

sharing with each other, discussing content, making sense of information, and working collaboratively. It means that there is less talk from the front of the conference room and more buzz as people communicate and work together. Peerology is not when a speaker

allows the audience to ask questions. That’s just standard Q&A, and it’s still a passive experience for most of the audi- ence — except for the person asking

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and the person answering the question. Peerology is when peers construct their own meanings and context from infor- mation presented, working together in pairs, triads, or small groups. Peerology leverages three things:

1 Personal experience and expertise This is critical, because all conference attendees come to an education session with their own knowledge, findings, and experiences about a topic. Acknowledg- ing that our attendees bring something to the table and allowing them to share it with others provides affirmation and motivation, which are necessary for learning to occur.

2 Our intrinsic drive to improve Mature adults have an inherent urge to move forward as well as to help others. In peerology, when each person plays the role of both learner and instructor, collaboration multiplies and learning is more likely to occur. Remember, learn- ing is a social process at its basic level and requires some type of feedback. Peerology allows us to give and receive feedback, a critical factor needed to learn and change.

3 The context As adults, we are prob- lem-centric. We are constantly looking for information and solutions to the daily challenges we face. Our mental engagement increases when we are able to apply what our colleagues say worked for them to our own problems.

BREAKOUT

Peerology Is Transformative

A 2001 Harvard School of Educa- tion study found that students who studied in groups were more engaged in their studies and learned significantly more than students who worked on their own — which has implications for adult learning at confer- ences. Read an ASTD blog post about this study at convn.org/ astd-blog.

ON THE WEB

Want more info? Join the Google+ Community Peeragogy In Ac- tion for free open educational resources about peerology’s effect on learning at convn.org/ peeragogy.

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Dave Lutz, CMP, is managing director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, velvetchainsaw.com.

JUNE 2013 PCMA CONVENE 35

ILLUSTRATION BY BECI ORPIN / THE JACKY WINTER GROUP