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
The PASS program has been developing at UQ for four years since it was first trialed in Biochemistry and Botany (BL103, BL104). It is currently running in a number of science, economics and business subjects.
Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is a program in which the best second and third year students are selected and trained as leaders to run study groups in chosen subjects for predominantly first year students. PASS leaders work in pairs with groups of up to 25 students in weekly voluntary study sessions. Leaders are supported and observed by a PASS supervisor.
PASS facilitates the integration of students into the academic and social life of the university. Many first-year subjects are core "service subjects" taught to strands of students from many different courses. These service subjects may have enrolments of 1000-1300. Usually they are lecture-based with little opportunity for face-to-face contact between student and lecturer. The content often seems dense, confusing and irrelevant to first year learners. The students find it extremely difficult to know when they have learnt the material adequately.
Large classes result in limited contact between students and staff. Lecturers, therefore, do not have the opportunity to obtain feedback from individual students. PASS results in feedback provided to PASS leaders, who then provide an overview to lecturing staff and the PASS supervisor.
PASS has been a very successful program for many classes at the University of Queensland. It is a valuable component for effective management of large first year classes.
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.
Leader Selection and Training
PASS leaders are carefully selected from among the students with a distinction or higher grade. They are interviewed to determine their enthusiasm and interpersonal skills and then trained as part of the PASS program.
Leader training is central to PASS success. A half day training workshop is held before the beginning of semester. It is subject specific which minimises the number of leaders being trained at one time and allows specific content to be discussed.
Leaders are trained for their mentoring role through discussion of the role and their experiences. They are trained to understand the characteristics of both effective group interactions and group leadership. They are provided with information on adult learning principles (Crebin, 1994), differences in learning styles and improving long term memory. A workbook is presented to the student which includes information on learning skills, encouraging learning, administration issues and feedback forms (McNamara and Kelly, 1996).
Communication, particularly communicating learning without tutoring is the essential component of PASS classes. Leaders are given some tools to assist them to do this. They role play different types of questions such as open questions, "Could you explain what you mean by ...?", refocussing and clarifying questions "how is that related to ...?" redirecting questions "Can anyone find the answer to that in your notes?" as well as probing questions "can you tell us some what the some more about ...?". These questions provide the leaders with the tools to help the student process information beyond the superficial level of delivering the correct answer, develop the student's skills in finding the material, encourage deeper learning and promote group interaction and learning (Topping 1996).
The final component of the leader training day is the planning of the first PASS session. This is essential in order to give the leaders confidence in their ability to interact successfully with the group and to ensure that students find PASS classes worthwhile and return. Leaders go through the material for the first week's lectures, decide what the students will find difficult, and determine how they will introduce themselves and work through the material.
Peer tutoring groups have been implemented in other locations. Bloom (1976) urges those organising peer tutoring through a clearly structured program incorporating the skill-needs of the students and involving the maximum participation and human interaction while providing a clear model of correct responses and desired behaviours. The PASS leader training ensures that leaders have the skills necessary to be effective group leaders. It is essential however, as also noted by Bloom, that a mixture of structure and freedom should be encouraged through offering choice in the way activities are conduced in the PASS session and it is important to teach leaders to incorporate appropriate reinforcement into the program as leaders may not know to offer this spontaneously.
PASS at UQ in 1999
PASS is being offered in 10 major subjects at UQ. Each semester 7,000 students are offered the option of voluntarily attending PASS; between 30% and 80% attend, depending on the subject. Approximately 150 students are trained and employed as leaders each semester.
PASS costs approximately $35 per student per semester. This includes costs of coordinator, supervisors and leaders. This means that a clear requirement and rationale for implementation must be provided for inclusion within a subject. The support obtained from academic staff at UQ and their willingness to pay for PASS classes from subject funds indicates their realisation of the benefits of the subject for student learning outcomes.
Results from attendance of PASS are generally highly consistent between subjects. We have included results from multiple subjects to indicate the use of this method of teaching across a broad range of disciplines.
What are the Outcomes for the Students?
Outcomes in Terms of Marks
Results from two classes are presented in figures 1 and 2. PASS attendees are defined as those students attending four or more PASS sessions. In, for example, ID153 it may be seen that the distribution of marks from 1-7 shows a normal distribution, most students receive a grade of four which is the pass mark. ID153 had 33% of students attend PASS classes but those students show a strongly skewed distribution to the higher marks. In BL101 in 1998 51% of students attended PASS. Only 18% of the students who received a grade of 7 had not attended PASS. Only 15% of students who received a 2 (a fail mark) attended PASS classes. In BL101 in 1998, it was calculated that if you attended PASS the likelihood that you would obtain a grade of 5-7 (credit to high distinction) increased from 39.0% to 73.3% or a 87.9% increase likelihood. 85.9% of students who obtained a mark of 1 or 2 (failing marks) did not regularly attend PASS.
Outcomes in Terms of Study Abilities
Surveys of PASS students have indicated multiple benefits of PASS. Students report working in a PASS group is more effective than isolated study and that PASS highlighted difficulties in the subject material (figures 3 and 4). These benefits may directly lead to the improved marks obtained by students.
Students straight from high school who are used to constant feedback find that there are limited feedback opportunities at university. Surveys have indicated that PASS eased students' anxiety (figure 5). Focus group questionnaires indicated that mock exams, quizzes and topic summaries were extremely helpful.
One of the outcomes desired by academic staff was improved deeper understanding of the material. Students reported that their understanding of the material improved. 97% of students in EC121 felt that PASS promoted a deeper understanding of the material (figure 6).
What are the Outcomes for the Leaders?
There are multiple benefits to being a PASS leader. At the end of each semester leaders are asked to respond to a written questionnaire about their experiences.
Leader outcomes may be defined in terms of :
- Improved understanding of basic material. "Wonderful opportunity to consolidate your understanding by having to revise content and explain content in a simple manner to others."
- Leadership and communication benefits. "Invaluable chance to learn and improve my communication, leadership and teamwork skills."
- Improved learning abilities. "It (PASS) has shown me different ways people approach their studies and other study techniques."
- Time management skills. "PASS helped me manage my time more efficiently so that I can accommodate everything."
PASS leaders frequently complete further studies in the field that they have been a leader. "Being a PASS leader had inspired me to major in Biochemistry." Currently, four PhD students in the Botany Department were PASS leaders in the first year Botany subject. All of the 11 leaders who applied for post graduate medicine in 1999 were accepted into the program.
The Value Added Career Development Program for UQ Students Action Learning Project (1998, Final Report Eril McNamara) interviewed employers from government and industry and identified the following skills/training that would have better prepared students for the workplace:
negotiation, interpersonal and conflict management skills
administration skills
personal skills (self motivation; time management; personal presentation)
communication skills
corporate culture
PASS is a system which operates in "real world" conditions. Leaders compete for selection, they are trained, their performance is monitored, they are given constructive and critical feedback, and if poor performance causes a drop in their group numbers, they are sacked (this is a very rare occurrence).
Past PASS leaders report that in job interviews, prospective employers have been very impressed with the skills they have demonstrated in their PASS role. Many have successfully acquired excellent positions in the workforce.
Outcomes for Academic Staff
Academic Outcomes
Much of the push from individuals within tertiary education institutions has been to lose content in favour of process learning. Teaching staff feel that this devalues their abilities and learning and are very unsatisfied with this trend. The inclusion of PASS allows learning processes to be dealt with without the loss of content. In the case of lectures presented by one of the authors of this paper (JP) it allowed a dramatic increase in content and comprehension. The ability to produce increased comprehension of subject material is the reason that academic staff find the program satisfying and are prepared to fund it from subject finances.
Lecturers comment that they find a higher degree of deep understanding as shown though assessment after PASS is implemented. Several lecturers felt that this deep understanding followed through to second and third year classes, being particularly evident in the PASS leaders subject performances.
In BL111 in 1999, it was decided that PASS would only be scheduled only every second week. This decision was primarily due to the feedback from students indicating that their contact time was being increasingly extended. This caused an enormous level of concern among students and was responsible for initiating a remarkable response from first semester first year students, such that within two weeks the subject coordinator had reinstated PASS classes every week.
Feedback Outcomes
Lecturing staff receive feedback every week from PASS leaders via the PASS supervisor. This feedback may be provided by Email or in person. The just-in-time feedback permits rapid alteration of lectures either in terms of presentation "please use the microphone", "too much information on the overheads" or in terms of content, resulting in re-explanation of lecture material or explaining material to PASS leaders who can in turn, use PASS classes to explain the information to students. Academic staff commented that they found this component of PASS extremely useful.
Students were less likely to see the lecturer in the subject when PASS classes were operating and many lecturers found this benefit extremely significant. PASS relieves academics from counselling anxious students, allowing more time for research and personal development.
Lecturing staff and particularly subject coordinators determined whether PASS would be included in the subject and controlled the material presented in the PASS program. They therefore did not feel that it was imposed on the subject. PASS classes are strongly content oriented and improve the students study skills as a product of dealing with the subject content which was much more strongly supported by academic staff and students than independent study skills programs.
Essential Requirements for Effective PASS
PASS is a very flexible system and will undoubtedly continue to change and evolve. However, there are some core elements in PASS that need to remain in place in order to give students continuing satisfaction. These key requirements, identified by repeated evaluations across the campus, are:
- promotion of self-directed active learning, and a place to gain deeper understanding of subject material
- a small-group, non-threatening environment providing social contact and even fun
- well-chosen leaders who are social mentors as well as content guides and who are supported by dedicated supervisors
- regular weekly sessions that provide constant feedback, reassurance and clarification of subject material
- voluntary attendance and ability to switch groups
- a ratio of approximately two leaders to 25 students
Modifying PASS so these criteria are not met, risks exposing students to an experience which is academically and socially sub-optimal.
Implementation of PASS
PASS is people intensive and requires careful attention to personal nurturing between supervisor and leaders, leaders and students and supervisor and academic staff. It needs to have the right mix of personnel and can be difficult to organise and sustain, particularly first time around. As can be seen from the figure 7A, the results for PASS 1996 - 1998 showed a clear improvement in the PASS student grades for the three years. This did not occur for all students (Figure 7B) and is a reflection of improved PASS training, leadership and supervision over the three years.
Theory and Practice
The principles of PASS are most clearly supported by the theories of adult learning, as a result of the peer assisted nature of the learning. Following the Brookfield (1991) analysis of the principles of adult learning, PASS supports the following foundations:
Mutual respect: Students respect leaders as having obtained the grades they would like to obtain. Leaders are encouraged to remember their first year experience and respect their students. Leaders respect their supervisors who guide their ability to produce the most effective group activities. The supervisors respect the leaders for their innovative skills and their ability to adapt from being students themselves to being leaders of a class of students. Lecturers tend to be completely amazed at the leaders' educational skills and respond extremely well to their feedback. Leaders respect for academic staff is frequently improved through their experience of the frustrations of conveying content to students.
Collaborative Spirit: PASS classes are built on a very collaborative methodology. Redirected questions such as "does anyone else have notes on ..." are encouraged, as is small group work and students supporting each other. The ability of leaders to convey feedback to lecturers and the leader and academic staff meetings three times during semester leads to a sense of teamwork developing throughout the subject.
Seeks to link action and reflection: Within PASS classes, leaders seek reflection on both material learned and methods of learning. Leaders complete a weekly reflection handout in which they reflect on improving their PASS classes. They include feedback to lecturers who use it to improve their performance. Three times during semester the supervisor holds reflection meetings among academic staff and PASS leaders.
Nurtures the self-direction of empowered adults: The aim of PASS classes is to provide students with the skills to continue self-directed learning. Student responses indicate that this is effective. They have become empowered in many ways which provide them with future opportunities to excel in any of their chosen fields of interest.
Conclusion
PASS at the University of Queensland has been an extremely successful program. It has support from all levels of the university, ranging from the university administration to students. The program has successfully assisted students with their learning skills and adjustment to university life.
PASS provides provided leaders with an array of skills which they use in their own study programs and for future employment. It provides academic staff with essential feedback on their own teaching style and on difficulties with content.
The implementation of PASS within subjects has improved academic staff attitudes towards student-centred learning strategies, improved feedback and communication between students and lecturers and instituted small group interactions within large first year classes.
Repeated evaluation across many subjects has indicated that PASS universally fulfils these roles. The friendly mentoring role that PASS leaders play helps students feel cared for and secure enough to reveal their learning difficulties and improve their learning process. The outcome is an increased understanding, enjoyment and success in the subject where the PASS program has provided an added learning tool.
PASS operates by a series of defined principles, some of which have also been noted by Goodlad (1999) for other tutoring and mentoring schemes. Departmental ownership and funding of the program is an essential component of its success. To convince departmental heads and subject coordinators of the need for PASS it is required to have clear aims and structured content requirements. The success of the program with students requires training of leaders and extensive support for leaders from the lecturing staff, the supervisor and the coordinator. The administration of the scheme requires clearly defined roles for all participants and simple logistics, such as maintaining the same time and location of a PASS group. The most essential component of continued success is evaluation and reflective change by all staff involved in the subject.
References
Bloom, S (1976) Peer and Cross Age Tutoring in the schools, Chicago board of Education, District 10
Brookfield, S. (1991) Understanding and facilitating adult learning: a comprehensive analysis of the principles of effective practice. Oxford Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Crebin (1994) Teaching in Higher Education for Lifelong Learning, p. 79
Goodlad, S (1999) Never Knowingly Oversold: a watchword for tutoring and mentoring schemes? Pp 3-7 Proceedings of the 2nd BP Regional Conference on Tutoring and Mentoring, Perth 1999
Hofmeister, J (1998) Evaluation research findings of the pre-university project on transition and student mentoring into University. In S. Goodlad (ed) Mentoring and tutoring by students pp 107-120 London: Kogan-Page
Kelly, B (1999) Faculty Based Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) at The University of Queensland. Pp 16-21 Proceedings of the 2nd BP Regional Conference on Tutoring and Mentoring, Perth 1999
McNamara, E. and Kelly, B. (1996) Peer Assisted Study Sessions; Leader training Manual. The University of Queensland.
Topping, K (1996) Effective Peer Tutoring in further and Higher Education. Birmingham: Staff and Educational Development Association, SEDA paper No 95
Figure 1 ID153. 1998. Grade distribution
for all students vs. PASS students.
PASS attendance scored if student attended four or more classes.
Figure 2 BL101. 1998. Grade distribution
for PASS attendees vs. non-attendees.
PASS attendance scored if students attended four or more classes.
Figure 3 EC134. Student responses to
the question,
"PASS helped me address and overcome problem study areas more effectively
than isolated study".
Figure 4 EC134. Student responses to
the question,
"PASS highlighted difficulties in the subject material that I was previously
unaware of".
Figure 5 EC134. Student responses to
the question,
"PASS classes have eased my anxiety in this subject".
Figure 6 EC121. Student responses to
the question,
"PASS promoted a deeper understanding".
Figure 7 Improvements in relative performance of PASS students from 1996-1998
(a) BL101 . Mark distribution for students attending PASS 1996 - 1998.
(b) BL101. Mark distribution for all students 1995 - 1998.
