Peer Assisted Learning Program
Students learned to successfully adapt to online and in-person changes, explore personalized learning experiences that support their academic success, and build a positive, mentoring relationship with an upper-year peer coach.
Program Lead: Partnership between SE’s Learning Development & Success and the Faculty of Science
Project Status: Complete
The Learning Development & Success team partnered with a high-risk first-year course and faculty member to pilot a Peer Assisted Learning program, addressing learning challenges related to the course. Research-informed learning strategies were covered in the curriculum of the course to address anticipated challenges, and students were assigned peer coaches who helped expose students to learning strategies early in their academic journey to prevent academic setbacks, normalize help-seeking behaviours and provide an experiential context to learning strategy development. Through the delivery of this program, students learned to successfully adapt to online and in-person changes, explore personalized learning experiences that will support in their continued academic success at Western, and build a positive, mentoring relationship with an upper-year peer coach.
In summary...
- The program was optionally offered to 1,200 students enrolled in Physics 1202B in the Winter 2022 term.
- 73 unique students engaged regularly in the program workshops and coaching.
- 4 peer coaches were hired, trained and mentored the students who engaged with the program.
- The post-program survey noted a very high-quality experience for students who engaged with the program.
- Peer coaches had a very positive experience and feel confident they developed meaningful skills in collaboration, support, and program design, all transferable to a future career.
- The program is being redesigned based on the feedback in hopes of being relaunched on a broader scale with faculty support for the next academic year.
- Professors are willing and wanting to make the program mandatory for students in future iterations.
