What is peer learning?

Peer learning gives students the possibility of obtaining academic support from other students in a variety of ways. The term comprises all initiatives through which students can ask questions, get feedback and guidance, and expand their knowledge with the help of other students in the University of Glasgow.

Peer learning initiatives can take many forms depending on their aims and the aims of the college, school or course within which they are embedded. Some of the most common forms of peer learning are:

  • Peer Assisted Learning (PAL): Regular sessions where students in a specific degree or course meet with their classmates and trained student facilitators to discuss and work together on issues relating to course material and assessment.
  • Peer Mentoring Schemes: Initiatives where groups of students in a course or degree are paired with a trained mentor who is further ahead in their same academic route to meet informally outside study hours. The mentor offers guidance and support with coursework or with university life broadly.
  • Peer Assessment (PA): Sessions or activities in which students share their work with, and receive feedback from, other students in their course or on a similar stage of their degree. 

What are the benefits of peer learning?

Peer learning projects are not extra teaching. They are student-driven initiatives and spaces for the exchange of ideas, conversation and collaborative work that is meant to help with and complement teaching. Despite this, studies show that regular attendees to PAL and other peer learning activities show on average better knowledge and understanding of course materials, and their grades are improved (Bidgood 1994; Capstick 2004).

But peer learning has a positive impact on much more than the attendees' grades and academic skills.

Benefits for attendees

Students who regularly take engage in peer learning typically experience:

  • Easier transition into university life and study
  • Deeper engagement with course materials
  • Better integration in the student community
  • Diversification of learning strategies and study habits
  • Reduction in time needed of independent study
  • Reduction in stress and anxiety levels

Benefits for leaders/mentors

For students who get involved in the creation and delivery of peer learning activities, benefits include: 

  • Formal recognition in HEAR transcript
  • Enhancement of leadership identity and facilitating capacities
  • Development of key employability skills: time and project management, presentation and organisational abilities, and communication and cultural competencies.
  • Connections with faculty members and professionals
  • Social and personal growth

References:

Bidgood, P. (1994) The success of SI - the statistical evidence. In C. Rust & J. Wallace (eds.) Helping students to learn from each other: Supplemental Instruction. Birmingham, England: Staff and Educational Development Association, 71-80.

Capstick, S. (2004) ‘Benefits and shortcomings of peer assisted learning (PAL) in higher education: an appraisal by students’, Peer Assisted Learning Conference Proceedings, Bournemouth University. Available at: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/stuart-capstick.pdf