Learning Beyond the Lecture: Using Peer Portfolios to Build Resilience, Confidence, Connection, and Critical Thinking in International Students

Abstract

This talk argues that international students need safe spaces to fail, reflect, and try again in order to build genuine resilience, since traditional assessment-heavy education tends to penalise mistakes too early and teaches students to avoid risk rather than learn from it. Drawing on Laurillard's Conversational Framework, Sheehy presents Innopharma's peer-to-peer portfolio model, in which small student groups use Mahara (within Moodle) to collaboratively research a challenge, build a portfolio webpage, and share it for peer review — all outside formal grading. The model maps onto a six-stage cycle (acquisition, inquiry, discussion, practice, collaboration, production) and student feedback suggests it strengthens collaboration, confidence, and a sense of community, while giving students room to practise failure productively before it counts.