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Peer Assisted Study Programs (PASS)
by Julia Playford, Botany Department Valda Miller, Biochemistry Department and Barbara Kelly, Teaching & Educational Development Institute (TEDI) The University of Queensland Introduction A recent trend in Universities is an increase in class sizes and reduced tutorial support. This is evident at the University of Queensland, where subjects which serve multiple courses have been implemented, resulting in subjects with enrolments greater than 1,000 students, often divided into four streams due to lecture theatre sizes. Each lecture will be given four times by two lecturers. Students in these subjects often have different expectations of the subject material because they are enrolled in multiple courses. From the student perspective, this leads to an increasingly difficult transition from school to university. The change from a structured learning environment to one where study requirements are less well defined is particularly difficult in large classes. Assessment during semester is extremely limited because of the large classes, and the ability to determine success of study methods is therefore reduced. Socially, large class sizes contribute to the difficulty of school to university transition, particularly for students who do not come with a school cohort. This factor is evident in students from country schools and disadvantaged backgrounds (Hofmeister, 1998) Academic staff also have a number of concerns with these large first year classes. Many of these classes have high failure rates, and high attrition rates such as was evident in cell biology. Academic staff also felt that retention of the information presented in the first year classes was a problem, even in classes with low failure rates, such as plant science. This presented continuing problems in second and third year subjects with the large first year classes as a prerequisite. Given the use of two lecturers for each lecture, the information in the course was severely constrained to the information presented on overheads or PowerPoint slides. The ability of academic staff to be creative with the material was therefore more restricted. In addition, due to a combination of the lack of continuous assessment and the lack of student feedback, it was difficult to determine which sections of the subject were causing problems to the students. In addition, many of the more approachable academic staff found that students constantly coming to see them was a time-management problem. Academic staff and staff from the student counselling service were very concerned about the effects of the large classes on student outcomes, both academically and in terms of satisfaction with their university experience. This laid the grounds for a program funded by the Action Learning Program at UQ in 1994 and led by Associate Professor Sue Hamilton from Biochemistry. The program was for Peer Assisted Learning (initially called PALS) which evolved into the program now known as PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) in 1995. What is PASS? Peer. PASS leaders are second or third year students. They have recently studied the material and have no status difference from the students. They have no role in subject assessment but provide an example of model students. They are chosen from the previous two years of students who obtained a distinction or higher grade in the subject. They have also been chosen as students who are very capable of communicating and explaining material and regularly and enthusiastically attended PASS classes when they were first year students. Assisted. The PASS leaders are trained to assist the students to learn. They do this through fostering active, collaborative learning rather than re-lecturing the material. Good leader behaviour involves knowing the students by name, encouraging questions, probing the students about their learning, redirecting questions and giving students time to think and respond, and initiating group activities involving as many written, verbal and oral stimuli as possible. Study. The leaders model different study techniques with students, assist with study guides and provide tips from lecturers. They focus on understanding and deep learning with students by providing the students with an environment to foster this type of collaborative learning. Sessions. The sessions are attended weekly, out of class time, voluntary, highly interactive, friendly, fun and informal. PASS classes are run by two leaders with approximately 25 students and are one hour in duration. Each PASS leader would normally run two to three sessions per week, mostly with different partners. PASS leaders are paid casual tutoring rates for the sessions they run. Successful leaders have been found to be those who voluntarily re-attend lectures because it assists with session planning. PASS leaders report to a PASS supervisor who is an staff member responsible for PASS classes in multiple subjects. PASS supervisors report to the PASS coordinator, an academic staff member in the Tertiary Education Development Institute at the University of Queensland and coordinates PASS throughout the University (Kelly, 1999). PASS sessions are run and funded by the staff involved in the subject for which it is prepared. The process of leaders modelling good student study habits and assisting students to learn the material is strongly grounded in the specific subject content. This has ensured active academic staff participation in the program. Academic staff prepare a specific PASS handbook which includes study hints, suggested further materials (eg other texts and web sites containing problem sheets) and, most importantly, a series of questions on the lecture material which can be used as a starting basis for discussion of the material in a PASS class. |