1. Cyber Peer Led Team Learning (cPLTL) Taking the Classroom Experience Online Randy Newbrough & Pratibha Varma-Nelson Sloan-C 5 th Annual International Symposium Emerging Technologies for Online Learning July 26, 2012

2. What is PLTL? Critical Components for Successful PLTL Programs National Dissemination and Impact of PLTL IUPUI’s PLTL Workshops New Frontiers with Cyber PLTL (cPLTL) Preliminary Findings on cPLTL’s Effectiveness Future Directions for cPLTL Research 2 Overview

3. Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) Peer: A more experienced undergraduate student who has recently completed the course with a good grade. Led: Refers to leadership. A leader is a guide to others. Goes through extensive training to assume this role. Team: A group of 6-8 people who work together to achieve a common goal. Learning: The goal of the team is to learn chemistry.

4. Course 2 - 3 hours of lecture per week 1.5 - 2 hours of PLTL workshop per week 3 hour lab facilitated by faculty and/or a TA

5. What is a PLTL Workshop? 6-8 students Materials with problems slightly above the level of standard end-of-chapter questions and specifically designed for group work. A well-trained leader Compliment to the lecture Gosser, D.K., M.S. Cracolice, J.A. Kampmeier, V. Roth, V. Strozak, and P. Varma-Nelson 2001 The Workshop Model: Peer Leadership and Learning. A Guidebook. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

6. 3 Types of PLTL Implementations PLTL workshop replaces part of a lecture replaces a TA led recitation is an added component to the course

7. Critical Components for a Successful Workshop Program Integral part of the course Challenging materials (no answer keys) Trained and closely supervised leaders Supportive faculty Appropriate physical arrangement Supportive Administration Gafney “Evaluation of PLTL, Peer-Led Team Learning: A Guidebook. Eds Gosser, D., Cracolice, M., Kampmeier, J., Roth, V., Strozak, V., Varma-Nelson, P. (2001). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

8. City College of New York, (1-2), St. Xavier Chicago, (3), U. of Pittsburgh (4), Penn State Schuykill, (5), U. of Kentucky (6), U. of Ohio Athens (7), U. of Miami Ohio (8), U. of Rochester, Org (9), U. of West Georgia (10), and NYC Technical (11). 12-15 (Independent studies) Blue = Non PLTL Red = PLTL Non-PLTL vs. PLTL

9. Tien, Roth, Kampmeier J. Res. Sci. Teaching (2002) U. Rochester Organic Chemistry Blue = Non PLTL Red = PLTL Student Breakdown

10. Impact of PLTL on Students at IUPUI

11. 2008

13. Disciplines Using PLTL General Chemistry Organic Chemistry Biochemistry Biology Psychology Mathematics Computer Science

14. Next Step: Moving Online cPLTL Replicate F2F workshop experience Partner Institutions Scalability

15. cPLTL Research Group

16. In the beginning…

17. Main Room

18. Group Room

19. Students Concerns Xournal (third party software) caused crashes Stopped saving information/lost information Network failures Wireless connection caused problems People talking at the same time-maybe more a problem with audio delay Sometimes difficult to hear White board (from Adobe Connect) was sometimes a problem

20. Present setup…

21. 21

22. Orientation & Equipment Distribution

23. cPLTL Leader Training

24. 24 Student View of Workshop

25. 25 cPLTL with Document Camera

26. Activities in PLTL Workshops Brainstorming Round robin Problem Solving in pairs Subgroups Concept maps Reflecting on problem solving Reflecting in change of understanding Using molecular models

27. Why cyber PLTL (cPLTL)? Untapped opportunities HS-University Community College-University Non-traditional and working students Allows new ways to capture data for discourse analysis and do research on how students learn in this environment Understand leader styles-useful for peer leader training

28. Leader quotes “The model is the same, but the way it is done is different; online you can’t pick up on body language cues like you can in face-to-face. Face-to-face also provides a better gauge of exactly what’s going on because you can see more what the students are doing. Students are a lot more willing to write things down in face-to-face, but think more deeply about what they write in cPLTL.”

29. Leader quotes “The same amount gets accomplished, but differently; cPLTL gets fewer problems done but more in depth. cPLTL requires choosing which problems are more attainable. Both an advantage and disadvantage of cPLTL is students having to walk other students through their work rather than just show them.”

30. Leader quotes “Running a cPLTL workshop is initially draining and nerve wracking because of all the voices and it’s hard to pick out what each person is saying.” [Not much of a problem now-addressed in training] “cPLTL is a success. This last week I had a student in Florida…attend my class without any problem. [S]uccess! I was actually pretty amazed that it went off without a hitch.”

31. Students Comments “Communicated effectively with other students” Convenience No commuting Liked being able to share work Easier to communicate Leader most positive aspect

32. 32 ACS First Semester General Chemistry Exam Across 5 Semesters No statistically significant difference in ACS Scores (n = 111) (n = 121)

33. 33 Mean Grades No statistically significant difference in mean grades (n = 121) (n = 111)

34. 34 End-of-Course Grades No statistically significant difference in course grades Across 5 Semesters (n = 121) ( n = 111)

35. Advantages of cPLTL Referred to information in the lecture, electronic course notes and materials posted in Oncourse Used internet easily to access resources to define, support and refute conclusions Easily shared their work and resources with the entire group Used other interactive tools such as Skype to report problems Talking more about content online

36. Next Step: Partnering and Expansion Florida International University Purdue University Expansion of cPLTL sections at IUPUI Conducted 1 st cPLTL National Adoption Workshop

37. Partners Nancy Pelaez Biology, Purdue University Spring 2012 Blackboard and Adobe Connect Thomas Pitzer Biology, Florida International University Fall 2011 Moodle and Adobe Connect

38. Finished the sixth semester at IUPUI 329 students have participated 25 leaders have led cPLTL workshops 24 General Chemistry sections at IUPUI 10 Biology sections at Purdue University 16 Biology sections at Florida International 38 Current Status

39. cPLTL Project Team 39

40. cPLTL Interdisciplinary Research Group John Sours, Undergraduate, Chemistry Kevin Mauser, Graduate student, BME Gina Ammerman, Graduate Student, Chemistry Juliana Banks, Postdoc Lin Zhu, Lecturer, Chemistry Lorie Shuck, IT Staff, CTL Tom Janke, IT Staff, CTL Randy Newbrough, IT Staff, CTL Joshua Smith, Associate Prof, Education Donald Wink, Evaluator Pratibha Varma-Nelson, PI

41. Acknowledgments Peer Leaders PLTL Project Partners NSF-DUE-0941978 NGLC Wave I pvn@iupui.edu

42. Questions?