Visiting Speaker: Leo Porter on Evidence and Practicalities of Peer Instruction

Published: 16 May 2022

Dr Leo Porter shares his experiences with Peer Instruction in a dual session, initially on sharing evidence and research in favour PI, followed by a practical advice session on PI delivery.

SPEAKER: Dr Leo Porter
DATE: Monday, 16th May 2022
TIME: 12:00-14:00
DESCRIPTION:
Session 1: 12:00-12:50 – The Evidence for Peer Instruction in Computer Science

In the past decade, Peer Instruction has become established as a best practice in teaching computer science.  In this talk, I will first explore the evidence which led to Peer Instruction becoming a best practice, specifically looking at the research demonstrating Peer Instruction is valued by students in a diverse set of CS courses at a diverse set of institutions, results in in-class learning from peers and the instructor, reduces failure rates by 67%, results in better final exam performance, contributes to improved retention of computer science majors, and may scale better than traditional lecture as class sizes increase.

Session 2: 13:10-14:00 – The Practicalities of Implementing Peer Instruction in Computer Science Classes
For faculty interested in adopting Peer Instruction in their classes, there are a number of practical challenges including how to structure the new classroom experience, tell students about the change in pedagogy, and write good Peer Instruction questions.  As a group, we will discuss these challenges while participating in structured activities.


First published: 16 May 2022