TAKING PEER ASSISTED LEARNING OUT OF THE

CLASSROOMMakis Malliris

Dean of Students OfficeUniversity of the West Of England

Raphael NagelPAL Leader

Presentation Outline

Current Research Case Study for STEM SW PAL Leader skills for Online Peer Support Findings from Online-PAL pilot in 2009-10 at

UWE

Aims of the STEM-SW Project

Research into the particular benefits of PAL for students

studying HE STEM programmes with an emphasis on the benefits for students from Widening Participation backgrounds

into the benefits for mentors for example, in confidence building, acquisition of graduate attributes and enhanced employability

Investigate different models of PAL including the development of an On-line approach

How PAL operates at UWE PAL leaders are trained PAL leaders are supported both centrally

and by a member of the module teaching team

Embedded: PAL sessions are timetabled Academic focus: supports learning

through small group discussions where content is drawn from existing course materials (lecture notes, workbooks, textbooks etc..)

Academic recognition

Literature review Journals

Interactive media in Education Computer assisted learning Innovations in Education and Teaching

International Asynchronous Learning Network Educational Computing Research Educational Technology Systems Distance Education ( American) Adult Learning ( Australian) Instructional Science Artificial Intelligence in Education

Why worry about the intricacies of peer

interaction? Who is learning? Conceptualisation of the role of

peers How can we know what occurs in

groups? What has been learnt? What changes as a result of the

interaction?

Aims of the case study To evaluate whether PAL can be delivered

effectively in an online format. To evaluate the suitability of the chosen

software for online PAL delivery. To evaluate the impact that online PAL delivery

has on the work load of the PAL leaders. To investigate whether online delivery affects

the group dynamic during a PAL session. To investigate how online delivery of PAL might

affect how knowledge is transferred amongst the group.

To determine the scalability of online PAL for future roll out.

Microsoft Lync

The Online Approach at UWE

Identify the skills needed for effective peer learning through online forums

Compare these with skills needed for effective face-to-face peer learning

Explore the onward implications for assessment of these skills

Online-skills for PAL Leaders

1. Socio-affective Initiate, participate, share , acknowledge

2. Organisational Plan, draw on course, draw on experience

3. Interactive process management Role clarification, request, give feedback,

reinforce

4. Cognitive interactive Generate ideas, guide

5. Reflective evaluative Reflect, assess, summarise, meta-cognition