Introducing SRC Creator: Jonathan McEvoy Engineering Department Southern Regional College

What is PAL? Peer Assessed Learning or (PAL) fosters cross-year support between students. It is run for students and by students to provide an informal, yet structured opportunity for new students to learn from those who have been there before them.

Is It Common? More than 85% of UK Universities run some kind of peer to peer scheme, so the idea is not new, and it is well established both in the UK and overseas.

My PAL Scheme (Details on the design context) As part of the Level 7 Blended Learning qualification, I decided to address a growing concern within the school of engineering and address the lack of part-time lecturers on the part- time register. As all staff are timetabled fully leaving little or no extra time to spend with students having particular issues with parts of the curriculum, I believe my research and subsequent project of introducing PAL within the school will go some way to addressing these issues.

My PAL Scheme Continued…. (Details on the design context) As I have already covered in the first slide, by introducing PAL into the school of engineering I will be addressing student curriculum concerns by having them mentored not by a member of staff, but instead by a fellow higher student, as I believe these are the best people to do this as they have “been there and gotten the T-shirt”. From my research I have discovered that the key to any successful PAL scheme is empathy and informality, and students who know the ropes are often better placed to part with this knowledge.

Brief Overview STEP 1 To begin with I wish to chose between 2 to 4 high performing HND engineering students. STEP 2 These chosen higher students would then be trained by qualified lecturers on a number of particular teaching styles/techniques/tools. NOTE: If the pilot is a success, then lecturing staff would need official accredited PAL training so as to train their PAL leaders properly.

Brief Overview STEP 3 Higher students (PAL Leaders) deliver weekly PAL sessions with L3 engineering students. See next slide for a visual overview.

Engineering PAL Pilot Brief overview of the proposed PAL scheme to be implemented as part of the L7 Blended Learning Qualification.

Curriculum Design Workshop I believe that the curriculum design workshop was effective in that it allowed me to focus entirely upon my pilot proposal and put together the “nuts and bolts” of the project by assessing what and how it will look like and managed. The following slide is a summary of the points I was able to put together from the design workshop time.

Curriculum Design Workshop (Conclusion) Timetabled sessions starting in the first week of term. 1 hour a week facilitated by pairs or trios of PAL leaders. PAL runs in terms 1 & 2. Nominally linked to a 1 st year core unit. 1 st year students and PAL Leaders can propose session content and direction. PAL is to be supportive, informal and fun!!!!!!!!!

Stakeholder Feedback on the Curriculum Design Workshop By having the stakeholders (in my case the potential PAL leaders and 1 st year – PAL students) present at the curriculum design workshop was precious and invaluable in order for me to properly critique and assess the proposal from a different point of view – the most important view – the actual students!!!!!!! The following slide shows just a summary of some discussions/conclusions my students and I had regarding this project.

Stakeholder Feedback on the Curriculum Design Workshop….Summary Feedback from the students regarding the PAL scheme was as follows: Will allow students to adjust to College life from school life. Will help students make friends and connections. Create an informal learning community. Acquire a clear view of course direction and expectations. Improve their study skills/adjust their study habits to meet the requirements of further education. Enhance their understanding of the subject matter of their course through collaborative group discussion. Prepare better for assessed work and exams.

Others Feedback on PAL Proposal Below is just a summary of some of the feedback which was received from my peers, tutor and myself. Please note – this is only some of the feedback as there was quite a debate and discussion regarding my PAL project proposal during the curriculum design workshop. I have captured the most important which I believe relevant. See next slide.

Others Feedback on PAL Proposal (Continued) Will minimise the number of ‘minor’ enquiries from 1 st year students. Increase student support and a sense of inclusion. Help students be better prepared for classes. Help students keep up with course material. Help create more independent learners. Train students in the basics of group work. Obtain vital feedback on how course content is being received by L3 students. Provide committed students who can help promote the College and meet with internal or external reviewers.

Evaluation of Curriculum Design Process I found that the curriculum design workshop was crucial in that it enabled me to present my project not only to the stakeholders (my Higher and Further students) but to my peers and tutor also. This enabled me to gain critical feedback as there were a number of points raised ranging from where would the PAL sessions take place to how much training the leaders would require which is something that I had not initially thought about in any great detail. Having that time to work along side the students (as equal participant's) I found was extremely beneficial as I could gain an insight into what their thought process was and what direction they would like to see the project evolve into, for example including digital tools like facebook, whatsapp, etc as a means not only of communicating between PAL attendees but also as a way of evolving the scheme into a online delivered program – using screencast for example.

Reflection Reflecting upon my work to date including research into establishing a PAL programme within the school of engineering, I would conclude that further professional development would be necessary as from research I found that 90% of all PAL programs had accredited training whereby the PAL lecturer could impart this training and their own teaching knowledge and experience to each of their PAL leaders. Another key point I would like to reflect upon is the incentives for becoming a PAL leader. My initial plan for this scheme looked something as follows.

Here you can see that one incentive to become a PAL leader would be having the opportunity to gain valuable industrial experience not to mention developing the various transferable skills which they would inevitably obtain. This industrial placement would be accredited therefore they could drop a number of units hence reducing their Higher National Diploma workload.

The End Thank you for viewing my presentme presentation and video. If you should have any questions regarding this viewing please feel free to me at the address below. Goodbye