So, we have just finished our first ever semester of Peer Learning and would like to say a big well done and thank-you to our Peer Leaders and students who attended sessions!
Peer Learning uses trained, experienced students to provide sessions for the years below. The idea is that the sessions are active, fun and informal with an academic focus. Rather than teaching academic subject matter, it is about facilitating activities that help the participants to learn independently.
This is the first time that we have offered Peer Learning and we’ll be expanding this scheme over the next year to offer opportunities to as many students as possible, both as leaders and attending sessions.
The pilot started by recruiting and training our leaders as an extension of the Business School Buddy role. Our Peer Leaders all did fantastically in the training which models the types of active learning that we’d expect them to use in their sessions. The idea is to create a safe, informal environment to ask questions, discuss answers and challenges and learn by doing.
Next, it was over to the leaders to run their sessions. These had a focus on study skills for first years with sessions on: Harvard Referencing; Essay Planning; Reading and Notetaking; Revision Skills and Exam Techniques. In another strand of the pilot, Peer Leaders who have just returned from placements have been sharing their experiences and helping 2nd year students to prepare for placements.
Initial feedback from students attending the sessions is that they were useful (more formal evaluation will follow later!) and the experience has also provided development opportunities for the peer leaders.
Here’s what some of them had to say:
“As part of the Peer Learning process I have shared personal experience and learnt a lot of new things at the same time. Peer Leading is all about learning and sharing.” – Ivan Ivanov, Peer Leader, 2016.
“Peer Leader scheme not only enables me to review my first years with a lot of confusions and worries to see how much I have grown up, but also allows me to make more friends with students in different years, listen to and learn from their experiences” – Lien Hong Doan, Peer Leader, 2016.”
Looking forwards, we’re extending Peer Learning into Semester 2 with sessions for second year students – more news on that soon. We’ll be learning from semester 1 to try and improve attendance at sessions and enable as many students as possible to get involved.
3rd and Final Year students, check your inboxes for details on how to get involved.
So all that remains is to wish you a happy and festive Christmas vacation!!! If you have any questions about Peer Learning or want to find out more get in touch with sbsedo@soton.ac.uk.