Different Peer Learning Programs�https://www.arendale.org/2022-sipass��June 2022�David Arendale, Ph.D.

Session Objectives

• Be a good consumer
• Examine several of the international/national PAL programs
• Emerging Scholars Program
• Peer-Led Team Learning
• Supplemental Instruction
• Structured Learning Assistance
• Video-Based Supplemental Instruction
• Additional resources on peer learning

Peer Learning Models

Extended YouTube Videos�https://z.umn.edu/peerlearningyoutube

Basic Overviews

• Commons elements 23:41
• Lessons learned 12:52
• Emerging Scholars Program 15:09
• Peer-led Team Learning 15:58
• Structured Learning Assistance 14:50
• Supplemental Instruction 41:15
• Video-based Supplemental Instruction 37:35

Research Oriented

• Choosing the appropriate peer model 23:41
• Peer leader growth overview 13:12
• Vocational identity development 13:15
• Leader identity develop 18:27
• Prof identity develop 13:57
• Peer bibliography overview 14:23
• Overview of course-based learning assistance 17:08

PAL Annotated Bibliography�Postsecondary Peer Collaborative Learning Programs

• Seven Programs: Accelerated Learning Groups; Emerging Scholars Program, Peer Assisted Learning, Peer-led Team Learning, Structured Learning Assistance, Supplemental Instruction or PASS, and Video-based Supplemental Instruction
• https://z.umn.edu/peerbib download as PDF, Word, or Endnote file plus topical bibliographies and more are available

Be a Good Consumer

• Read the fine print on how to implement the program
• Visit a nearby college hosting the program
• Pay for the training program if available
• Discover the hidden secrets of successful programs

Finding the Right Match

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Appropriate

Intervention

Institutional

Capacity

Student

Need

Institutional

Climate

Definition of Emerging Scholars Program

• Highly-structured workshop attached to academically-rigorous math courses to increase success of historically-underrepresented students.
• Created in the early 1970s by Dr. Philip Uri Treisman at the University of California, Berkeley. Initial focus was African-Americans in a calculus course seeking a doctoral degree in mathematics.

Known by Various Names

• Emerging Scholars Program (used in 1980s)
• Gateway Science Workshop Program
• Mathematics Workshop Model
• Professional Development Program Mathematics Workshop (original name)
• Math Excel (University of Kentucky, Lexington)
• Excel (Rutgers State University of New Jersey)
• Merit (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• Treisman Model

Goals of ESP

• Increase graduation rates of historically-represented students in STEM majors at undergraduate and graduate level.
• ESP has expanded for a wider range of first-generation and historically-underrepresented students.

Major Assumptions of ESP

• Too often, students placed in “special programs” fall victim to Dr. Claude Steele’s “Stereotype Threat” and academically underperform.
• ESP must appear as an honors and enrichment program with high expectations for acceptance into it.

Requirements to Implement

• Institutional leader participation in recruitment and orientation of new students
• Strong academic unit and department support
• Release or supplemental pay to faculty for supervision and design of ESP curriculum
• Salary for graduate student as facilitator due to skill and knowledge requirements
• Assignment of workshop space

Workshop Operation

• Mandatory structured lab meets four hours/weekly attached to a rigorous course
• Graduate student is trained to facilitate
• Challenging problem solving worksheets: easier, medium-level, very challenging
• Individual, small, & large group activities during the ESP workshop sessions

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Outside of Workshop Operation

• Recognize campus culture sometimes not supportive of historically-underrepresented and first-generation students
• Create social support cohort
• Identity development
• Academic major attachment
• Strong peer support network
• Social bonding activities

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Scales for Evaluation

• Replicated nationwide. High success. High $$$
• No institution-wide policies needed since course-based. Need evaluation support.
• Requires strong interest, extensive faculty time
• Graduate or professional student skill
• Salary for grad student plus salary overtime or course release for faculty
• Highly effective for increasing success of historically-underrepresented students in high-demand academic majors.

Definition of Peer-Led�Team Learning

• Model of teaching undergraduate STEM courses that integrates peer-led workshops as an integral part of a course to increase success for all enrolled students, especially those that are historically-underrepresented.
• Created at City University of New York
• NSF Grant Support 1991-2005

Goals of PLTL

• Create seamless integration of academic support and mastery of essential learning skills within the course.
• Increase achievement within gateway courses in STEM.
• Increase persistence of historically-underrepresented students in STEM majors.

Major Assumptions of PLTL

• All students benefit from seamless integration of PLTL within the course curriculum.
• Depending on voluntary participation provides means for students who most need the experience to avoid it and suffer as a result.

Requirements to Implement

• The peer-led Workshop is integral to the course.
• Instructors involved in selection of materials, training, supervise peer leaders, and review the Workshops.
• Peer leaders selected, trained and supervised to be group work facilitators. Experienced PLTL leaders, instructors, and learning center staff may supervise.
• Supported by the department and the institution with funds, course status and other support so that the method has the opportunity to be adopted across courses and disciplines.
• Seamless integration through mandatory discussion lab weekly (often two hours).

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Workshop Operation

• Student leader facilitates lab sessions. Previously they excelled in the same course.
• Ancillary text/workbook and active learning activities support/reinforce the course lectures and the textbook
• Workshop materials are appropriately challenging, directly related to course assessment methods, and used in small group work
• Workshops scheduled in advance and held once a week for two hours, contain six to twelve students per group, in space suitable for small-group activities.
• Student leaders may receive pay or academic credits.

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Scales for Evaluation

• Replicated nationwide. High success. $ cost
• Senior-level and departmental administrative strongly supportive and provide stable budget
• Strong interest, extensive faculty time
• Undergraduate or graduate student skill
• Salary for under/graduate student, salary overtime or course release for faculty
• Highly effective for transformation of historically-challenging introductory science courses for all enrolled students

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https://pltlis.org/

Supplemental Instruction/PASS�Originated at the Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City

• Seamlessly integrate content & learning skills
• SI leader regularly attends the class
• SI leader is trained prior and during the term
• Trained staff member supervises
• Faculty member approves/supports
• SI sessions are regularly conducted
• Voluntary attendance by students
• Some programs offer online SI sessions
• Training workshops international conference

Known by Other Names

• Supplemental Course Instruction (original name)
• Academic Mentoring
• Peer Mentoring in Praxis (PMIP)
• Academic Peer Mentoring Scheme (APM)
• Peer Mentoring
• Names often used outside the U.S. (Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and others)
• Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)
• Peer Assisted Study Schemes (PASS)
• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL)

Scales for Evaluation

• Replicated nationally/intern. Good success. Low cost $
• No institution-wide policies needed since course-based program. Need evaluation help.
• Mild interest, limited faculty time
• Undergraduate student skill for facilitators
• Salary for undergraduate student and faculty or staff to administer, supervise, and evaluate campus program
• Highly effective serving large numbers of students in multiple historically-difficult courses with voluntary participation attracting about one-third of the students.

Variations on SI/PASS

• Structured Learning Assistance (Ferris State U)
• Weekly study and practice workshops
• Flexible regarding attendance requirements
• More formal workshop format
• Activities: Q/A time, practice quiz/test, develop learning/study strategies, complete homework
• Video-based Supplemental Instruction (UMKC)
• Students enroll in core curriculum course (chem, hist)
• Course lectures video recorded and workbooks created
• Stop video frequently to integrate study strategies and assure understanding before proceeding
• Purposes: replace DE courses, provide distance learning

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https://info.umkc.edu/si/

https://www.ferris.edu/sla/

PAL is more than PAL

• Co-curricular for participants and facilitators
• Enormous growth for facilitators and participants
• Resource for faculty development
• Anonymous feedback through facilitators
• Discover new approaches and pedagogies for teaching
• Highlight benefits for recruiting facilitators
• Leadership skill and identity development
• Career exploration and identity development
• Career and employability skills
• Enhance application for graduate school
• Build alliances with campus leadership course, education department, student affairs, & others

PAL Present and Future

• Continued innovations with SI-PASS
• Mainstreamed and Mandatory
• All student participate during class sessions
• Paired workshop with attendance reported to instructor
• Embedded Peer Educator Model, Learning Assistance Model, course embedded peer tutors
• Online PAL (building on previous efforts)
• Increases participation rate of students
• Requires new pedagogies to increase engagement
• Students as Partners (SaP)
• PAL facilitators expand their responsibilities
• Faculty make facilitators and enrolled students part of the course redesign effort

Image from unsplash by Sonja Langford

Time is the most expensive component of successful PAL programs

What do you take away?

• What are two new things you learned that you can use with your peer learning program?

For More Information

• Peer learning program bibliography, https://z.umn.edu/peerbib download main bibliography, topical bibliographies, and more. Among topical bibliographies are those that list particular outcomes for participants and facilitators
• PAL YouTube Channel, https://z.umn.edu/peerlearningyoutube then click on “playlists” tab and select “PAL facilitator research” and “PAL facilitator interviews”
• PAL Podcast, https://palgroups.org Contains same items as on PAL YouTube channel plus information documents.
• PAL Facebook page, https://z.umn.edu/palgroupsfacebook contains same items as on PAL podcast.

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For More Information

PowerPoint slides handout, links to additional resources, and much more: https://www.arendale.org/2022-sipass

https://z.umn.edu/peerlearning

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David Arendale, Associate Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, Curriculum and Instruction Department, (612) 812-0032, https://Arendale.org Arendale@umn.edu