{"title":"Inspire","authors":"Gloria Chavez Saenz","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-10-117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-10-117","url":null,"abstract":"Enduring one of the hardest semesters that I’ve had so far, I’m not sure if I would have been able to make it without being part of the peer leading team. Without the privilege to lead and be buoyed by my students, I wouldn’t have survived because workshop is once again my safe and happy place. I felt this way when as a first semester freshman, I took General Chemistry I and found workshop was my safe place. At that time, I enjoyed workshop as a student and now I’m enjoying it as a Peer Leader. Peer leadership has become one of my best college experiences. Yes, it’s been challenging, and I was super scared at first. Yet life is precisely about taking risks, and as Stephen King says “The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.” And things did get more than better!","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130065648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Student to Coordinator: My 20-year PLTL Journey","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-07-96","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-07-96","url":null,"abstract":"Peer-Led Team Learning has proven to be an inextricable part of my academic and professional journey. This essay describes my journey from a freshman chemistry major and workshop student to Assistant Dean and PLTL program coordinator, and the people who helped me along the way.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116266353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of PLTL in Four Introductory Engineering Courses: Improving Access and Opportunity for Students Underrepresented in STEM Disciplines","authors":"Kimberly T. Luthi, Mohua Kar, Lisa Macon","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-05-55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-05-55","url":null,"abstract":"The performance assessment was a major component of the overall National Science Foundation-funded research project, Engagement in Engineering Pathways. The study examined underrepresented and female students’ abilities to translate cognitive knowledge into demonstrable performance-based proficiencies through engagement in Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) labs in post-secondary, undergraduate introductory engineering courses. Evidence from the study comes from 518 students enrolled in four engineering courses and PLTL labs. The research protocols, implementation process, and assessment of academic achievement of project participants are discussed. Data are analyzed across student demographics to identify performance indicators within PLTL activities that influenced students’ commitment and retention in engineering pathways. This study found evidence to suggest the incorporation of PLTL in introductory engineering courses had a positive effect on the academic achievement, persistence, and commitment to engineering of students historically underrepresented in engineering. Implementation and support for PLTL that incorporates active learning can promote high academic performance, increased participation in class as well as persistence and retention in engineering pathways.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"80 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116224117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Born in the USA – Exploring the PLTL Model in the UK Higher Education","authors":"Lesley Howell","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-02-04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-02-04","url":null,"abstract":"In September 2021, Queen Mary University of London piloted Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) for the first time. PLTL workshops were introduced into three independent modules with the purpose to identify any challenges we may face and to establish a set of recommendations for a scaled up PLTL programme at QMUL. In 2019, QMUL launched the 2030 strategy. Our mission is to be the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere by 2030. PLTL directly sits under the strategic pillar for student engagement but indirectly impacts a wide range of QMUL’s strategic aims. Our findings from the initial pilot suggest the workshops are most effective if they are compulsory, assessed, held regularly, and assigned to students.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"184 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114545844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Approaches to Peer Leader Training","authors":"N. Kennedy","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-06-72","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-06-72","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes a Peer Leader training course that has been modified to include innovative components focusing on developing content and pedagogical knowledge, practicing rehearsals, generating action research projects, doing poster presentations, and writing a reflective letter to new Peer Leaders. Through these innovations, four types of reflection--on relevant research and theory, on students’ experiences, on peer practice, and on one’s own practice--have been incorporated into the course. The new course components promise to offer more opportunities for trainees to practice peer leading in a structured and safe environment in which immediate and supportive feedback is available, and group practice and reflection are optimized.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126851763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) on the Life of a Latina","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-09-111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-09-111","url":null,"abstract":"As a Latina at a Hispanic Serving Institution, I joined the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) program at the University of Texas at El Paso to overcome my language insecurity, gain confidence, persevere, and become a more successful student. Peer leading has helped me boost my confidence, gain better communication and time management skills, learn to work under pressure, manage difficult situations, and improve my ability to work with diverse students. In addition, it increased my sense of responsibility. The PLTL program is advantageous for both students and Peer Leaders alike because each group learns from the other while overcoming challenges together. Peer Leaders learn to communicate effectively while allowing space and time for students to make mistakes, collaborate with one another, and learn through engaging activities. As a Latina Peer Leader, I was also able to foster collaboration between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students, promoting inclusion in a friendly workshop environment that promoted high participation.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126769738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Five Essays on the Trail to Medical School","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-08-101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-08-101","url":null,"abstract":"This collection of essays provide advice and guidance to students, especially Peer Leaders (PLs), seeking to apply to graduate or professional schools. These essays were inspired by my experiences as a leader and helped me craft my medical school applications. These essays exemplify how journaling the opportunities encountered as a PL proves to be of extreme value. In addition to the essays, my PL experiences helped to provide meaningful insights which I could share and reflect on throughout the interview process. When faced with provocative questions (e.g., Describe a challenge you have faced; discuss the importance of diversity; tell us about a time you failed), I continuously found myself able to rely on lessons learned from working as a Peer Leader. I am pleased to describe a variety of special experiences that enabled me to present different aspects of my character to interviewers and to clearly personify the traits that appealed to them in my written application. “Working as a peer leader stands as one of my most treasured undergraduate experiences! Sharing my experiences as a peer leader throughout the interview trail reaffirmed everything I enjoyed about being part of the program, and I look forward to taking what I learned and applying it to my future at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons.”.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130806923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor’s Notes: Journeys Through Time","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-01-01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-01-01","url":null,"abstract":"Issue 2 of Advances in Peer-Led Learning (APLL) continues the effort of the Peer-Led Team Learning International Society to communicate research and innovations in peer-facilitated models of learning, like Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL). Papers examine individuals’ journeys: from student to Peer Leader, thence to graduate and medical school, to a career in academia. They also examine the beginning of the journey in implementing PLTL: in a different educational system – from the USA to the UK; from a desire to retain and excite those not usually found in engineering; to designing changes in how Peer Leaders are prepared for careers as mathematics instructors. Then there are the longer views: how the PLTL program remained innovative and supportive at Washington University in St. Louis, and the conundrum of how PLTL can be sustained across time and institutional changes.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"116 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133391259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ABCs of the History of PLTL Implementation at Washington University in St. Louis","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-03-17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-03-17","url":null,"abstract":"Peer-Led-Team-Learning (PLTL) is a long-running, highly successful academic support program fully embedded in select course pedagogy at Washington University (WashU.) in St. Louis. This paper’s title, The ABCs of the History of PLTL at Washington University in St. Louis, is intentional and the “ABCs” themselves convey the core elements that have contributed to the tremendous success of PLTL at WashU, and to the integration of PLTL into STEM academic culture at WashU - “A” for Attitude; “B” for Behavior; and “C” for Collegiality. However, the most impactful element associated with the success of PLTL at WashU is the final letter in the “ABCs” string – the “s”. Though not capitalized, the “s” is arguably the most critically important component in the history, and in the efficacy and effectiveness, of PLTL at WashU. The small “s” represents serendipity.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115437358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sustainability Matters: Advocating for the Establishment and Continuation of Peer-Led Team Learning","authors":"","doi":"10.54935/apll2022-01-04-30","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54935/apll2022-01-04-30","url":null,"abstract":"The successful dissemination of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model at multiple institutions of higher education, in the United States and other countries, is reflected in the number of publications (see www.pltlis.org). However, many PLTL campus programs are no longer active or exist. This may be due, more recently, to the COVID pandemic and its disruptions. Historically, programs no longer exist because grant funding that supported the initiative ended; other reasons include the promotion, retirement, or even death of the practitioners whose work championing their PLTL program ended. What can sustain a campus PLTL program so that its benefits continue to accrue to students and Peer Leaders, and positively affect institutions’ retention, graduation rates, and mission over decades? This paper examines the strategies used to disseminate the PLTL model; presents suggested prescriptions for institutional adoption regarding climate, culture, and organizational learning; provides case studies of possible sustainability methods and compares the PLTL critical components to suggestions for creating sustainable educational innovations.","PeriodicalId":165892,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Peer Led Learning","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126465956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}