Can Peer to Peer Interaction (PPI) be a Global Theme to Promote Engagement in Students of Diverse Characteristics and Country Contexts

Investigating postgraduate students’ experience of peer-to-peer interaction (PPI) to promote engagement, across diverse student characteristics and country contexts, is rare, but a task necessary to improve outcomes for increasingly diverse students in higher education. This study implemented a questionnaire survey in an Asian developing (i.e. Bangladesh; n=65) and a Western developed country (i.e., Australia; n=28) to address two research questions: first, is student experience of PPI to promote engagement consistent across developing and developed country contexts? Second, do characteristics of students influence their experience of PPI? In both contexts, PPI facilitated students’ discussion of readings from different viewpoints, cognition to apply classroom learning to work and teamwork and practical problem-solving skills. In the developed country, students’ age negatively correlated to…