Peer Support: Relations between the context, process and outcomes for the students who are supported

In this paper an investigation of the outcomesof a Peer Support scheme for the students whoare supported is reported. It was found thatattendance at Peer Support sessions waspositively and significantly correlated toacademic performance. This relationship wasfound even when prior levels of academicperformance were controlled for. However, itwas also found that students who attended PeerSupport sessions adopted less meaningorientated approaches to studying over thecourse of the academic year. It is argued thatthis is an indication that the quality of thelearning of these students fell. Qualitativeevidence suggests that this change in approachwas in response to an increased awareness ofthe assessment demands of the course and thatthese students had become more strategicallyorientated in their approach to studying as aresult of their attendance at Peer Supportsessions. It is argued that these resultssuggest that the outcomes and operation of thisPeer Support scheme were influenced by thecontext in which it operated. Two implicationsof these findings are discussed.

[1]  W. R. Niblett.  Higher Education , 1972, Nature.

[2]  M. Goldschmid,et al.  Peer teaching in higher education: A review , 1976 .

[3]  N. Entwistle,et al.  EFFECTS OF ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS ON STUDENTS' APPROACHES TO STUDYING , 1981 .

[4]  Deanna C. Martin,et al.  Breaking the Attrition Cycle: The Effects of Supplemental Instruction on Undergraduate Performance and Attrition. , 1983 .

[5]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Understanding Student Learning , 1983 .

[6]  David Watkins,et al.  A longitudinal study of the approaches to learning of Australian tertiary students. , 1985 .

[7]  R. Clarke.  Students' approaches to learning in an innovative medical school: a cross-sectional study. , 1986, The British journal of educational psychology.

[8]  Neal Whitman,et al.  Peer Teaching: To Teach Is to Learn Twice , 1988 .

[9]  Sinclair Goodlad,et al.  Peer Tutoring: A Guide to Learning by Teaching , 1989 .

[10]  Elaine Martin,et al.  SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT AND SIXTH FORM PUPILS‘ APPROACHES TO LEARNING , 1989 .

[11]  Mary Lundeberg,et al.  Supplemental instruction in chemistry , 1990 .

[12]  John T. E. Richardson,et al.  Reliability and replicability of the Approaches to Studying Questionnaire , 1990 .

[13]  R. Bridgham,et al.  Effects of supplemental instruction in selected medical school science courses , 1992, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[14]  David R. Arendale,et al.  Supplemental Instruction: Improving first-year student success in high risk courses , 1992 .

[15]  P. Rye,et al.  Instructions in learning skills: an integrated approach , 1993, Medical education.

[16]  Nancy Schoeps,et al.  Does supplemental instruction really work and what is it anyway , 1993 .

[17]  Anthony Anderson,et al.  Group and Interactive Learning , 1994 .

[18]  David R. Arendale,et al.  Supplemental instruction: increasing achievement and retention , 1994 .

[19]  P. Kenney,et al.  Supplemental instruction sessions in college algebra and calculus , 1994 .

[20]  Patricia Ann Kenney,et al.  Research Studies on the Effectiveness of Supplemental Instruction in Mathematics. , 1994 .

[21]  Chris Rust,et al.  Laying Firm Foundations: the Long‐term Benefits of Supplemental Instruction for Students on Large Introductory Courses , 1995 .

[22]  Susan Diemert Moch,et al.  Influence of Social Interaction on Cognition: Connected Learning in Science , 1995 .

[23]  S. Goodlad.  Students as tutors and mentors , 1995 .

[24]  L. Norton,et al.  Can students be helped to learn how to learn? An evaluation of an Approaches to Learning programme for first year degree students , 1995 .

[25]  Keith J. Topping,et al.  Effective peer tutoring in further and higher education , 1996 .

[26]  Andrew D. McCarthy,et al.  Assessing the effectiveness of supplemental instruction: A critique and a case study , 1997 .

[27]  David Arendale,et al.  Supplemental Instruction (SI): Review of Research Concerning the Effectiveness of SI from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Other Institutions from across the United States. , 1997 .

[28]  David Kember,et al.  Evaluating the effectiveness of educational innovations: Using the study process questionnaire to show that meaningful learning occurs , 1997 .

[29]  Paul Ashwin,et al.  Peer facilitation and how it contributes to the development of a more social view of learning , 2003 .