Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Groups : College Group Tutoring and Study Review Groups
by David Arendale
The "PALgroups Podcast" is focused on college study review groups. PAL is the name for the study review groups used at the University of Minnesota. We drew upon best practices from national models such as Supplemental Instruction, Peer-led Team Learning, and the Emerging Scholars Program. I served on the team that created the PAL model on our campus. I serve as an Associate Professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department within the College of Education and Human Development.Some episodes share new things I am learning about postsecondary peer cooperative learning groups from the U.S. and countries around the world. Other episodes feature student study group leaders describing session activities that worked well with the subject matter and the students. Those interviews include what the PAL facilitator is learning personally and professionally about their experience. Initially, the interviews will be with PAL facilitators at the University of Minnesota. Eventually, study gr
Episodes
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Interview, Sara, SI Leader, Housatonic Comm Coll CN
S04-E27 We feature an interview with Sara who is a biology SI leader for the peer study group program at Housatonic Community College in Connecticut. She shares some of the learning activities that were used during the face-to-face and online SI sessions. Sara finishes the interview by sharing…
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Interview, Kristen, Prog Mngr, Houstanic Comm Coll (CN)
S04-E26 We feature an interview with Kristen who is the program manager for the peer study group program at Housatonic Community College in Connecticut. She shares about the rapid growth of the SI program and the challenges faced by implementing it at a two-year institution. Kristen finishes the...
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Interview, Louisa, Study Leader, Florida Int. Univ.
S04-E25 We have a conversation with Louisa who is a student study group leader at Florida International University. While she provides academic support for a number of courses, I asked her to focus on one course and why it is challenging for first-year students. Louisa provided insight to why the...
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Interview, Emily, Study Leader, Florida Int. Univ.
S04-E24 We have a conversation with Emily who is a student study group leader at Florida International University. This is part three of a four-part series from FIU. We begin our conversation with Emily when she describes her vocational path to becoming a school teacher as a result of her...
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Interview, Mario, Study Leader, Florida Int. Univ.
S04-E23 Mario is a student study group leader at Florida International University. This is part two of a four-part series from FIU. We begin our conversation with Mario describing his experience as an international student. He describes his journey to becoming a tutor at the institution. Among…
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Interview, Vicenta, Program Mngr, Florida Int. Univ.
S04-E22 We have a conversation with Vicenta who leads the program that hosts the campus tutoring and small study group program at Florida International University. She provided an overview of the academic support program and how it adapted to online services during the COVID pandemic. Then the...
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Interview, Morgan, SI Leader, Alvernia U. PA
S04-E21 This episode introduces us to Morgan who is a study group leader for the SI program at Alvernia University in Pennsylvania. Morgan shared her experience as a study group leader in a general anatomy and psychology course. Topics of our conversation included how she became a study group...
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Interview, Brendan, Student Leader, Vancouver Island Univ. (CA)
S04-E20 This episode introduces us to Brendan who is a study group leader for the SI program at Vancouver Island University in Canada. This is the final part of a series on the VIU program. Brandan shared his experience as a study group leader in two accounting courses. Topics of our conversation...
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Interview, Natasha, Student Leader, Vancouver Island Univ. (CA)
S04-E19 This episode introduces us to Natasha who is a study group leader for the SI program at Vancouver Island University in Canada. This is part three of a four-part series of the VIU program. Natasha shared her experience as a study group leader in a general psychology course. Topics of our...
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Interview, Madelaine, SI Leader, Vancouver Island Univ. (CA)
S04-E18 This episode introduces us to Madelaine who is a study group leader for the SI program at Vancouver Island University in Canada. This is part two of a four-part series of the VIU program. Like many other study group leaders, she reported how she served as a tutor in high school and…
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Interview, Shelley-Anne, SI Program Manager, Vancouver Island Univ. (CA)
S04-E17 This episode introduces us to Shelley-Anne who manages the SI program at Vancouver Island University in Canada. A majority of our conversation was spent with how Shelley-Anne has organized former SI leaders to serve as mentors to the new SI leaders. A great deal of responsibility has been...
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Interview: Teresa, Student Leader, Drexel University (PA)
S04-E16 This episode introduces us to Teresa who is a doctoral student in the medical school at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Teresa shares a variety of strategies that she uses to help her student succeed. She explains how she learns along with her students. Listen for her final statement…
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Interview: Jill, Student Leader, Drexel University (PA)
S04-E15 This episode introduces us to Jill who is a doctoral student in the medical school at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Jill shares a variety of strategies that she uses to help her student succeed. She explains how she learns along with her students. Jill advocates that it is not...
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Interview: Marissa, Program Manager, Drexel University (PA)
S04-E14 This episode introduces us to Marissa who is the study group program manager at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. She shares about the support the study group program provides to the physician's assistant program. Marissa also explains the highly involved role that the faculty members…
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Interview: Sam, Student Leader, MN State U Mankato
S04-E13 This episode introduces us to Sam who is a student study group leader. She is studying physics and astronomy. Her career aspiration is to become a physics professor and researcher. Her hobbies include running, basketball, poetry, and jamming to music. I was very interested in how she…
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Interview: Paige, Student Leader, MN State U Mankato
S04-E12 This episode introduces us to Paige who is a student study group leader. Her major is marketing with a minor in graphic design. Her career aspiration is business/event design, marketing manager, or marketing analyst. Her hobbies include reading, hiking, and art. Paige is a study leader…
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Interview: Taylor, Student Leader, MN State U Mankato
S04-E11 This episode introduces us to Taylor who is a student study group leader. She is studying family and consumer science with an emphasis on dietetics. Taylor mentioned that the anatomy course she supported was challenging due to the complicated vocabulary. That course was actually the first...
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Interview: Osee, Student Leader, MN State U Mankato
S04-E10 This episode introduces us to Osee who is also a MavPASS student leader. He is an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a wonderful story of how he was identified by his teachers in middle school to help other students with their homework. His work as a MavPASS leader...
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Interview: Faith, Student Leader, MN State U Mankato
S04-E09 We continue the interview series with the study group manager and the students that lead the study group sessions. The last episode featured Dr. Laura Jacobi, who is a faculty member and the program manager. Now we begin episodes that feature five of their student study group leaders. In...
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Interview: Dr. Laura Jacobi, MavPASS Program Manager, MN State U Mankato
S04-E08 Beginning with this podcast episode, we start airing interviews with study group program coordinators and student study group leaders from over twenty colleges in Australia, Canada, and the United States. These episodes will likely occur from April through September of 2021. Then, a new...
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Administrative Placement of Supplemental Instruction Programs
S04-E07 I feature a previous publication by me, Administrative Placement of Supplemental Instruction Programs. This was one part of my dissertation focused on several aspects of Supplemental Instruction that was published in 2000. Olivia and Henry, members of my synthetic voice family will…
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Understanding the Supplemental Instruction Model
S04-E06 In this podcast episode, we feature a previous publication by me, Understanding the Supplemental Instruction Model. I authored this one back in the 1990s. Leslie, a member one of my synthetic voice family will narrate the publication. If I were writing this article today, no doubt there...
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Leader Identity Emergence, Part Two of Two
S04-E05 We continue our brief overviews of publications about leader identity emergence by the study session leaders. The narration of the publication overview will be by members of my synthetic voice family. I hope that the interaction that occurs will make the listening more enjoyable. Due to…
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Leader Identity Emergence Part One of Two
S04-E04 We feature brief overviews of publications about leader identity emergence by the study session leaders. Except for the first two, all the rest are by researchers from around the globe. This begins a series of podcast episodes where we examine entries from the annotated bibliography of…
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Meet the Family of New Voices and Podcasts
S04-E03 David shares announcements about new podcasts related to this one and employing a family of synthetic voices to narrate summaries of some of the scholarship shared through the podcast as PDF documents.
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Expanded Peer Bibliography Available
S04-E02 Short overview of the updated and expanded annotated bibliography for the seven major peer learning programs. Our colleagues in the field have been productive in the past year with new research and publications to inform us of best practices for peer learning programs. I monitor seven…
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Season Four Overview March 2021
S04-E01 Overview to Season Four of the PAL podcast. Last season we included interviews with several Australian study group leaders. This season we will continue the same with interviews of student leaders in the U.S. and other countries. We will expand the interviews to also include the...
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Course-based Learning Assistance (CLA) Guidelines Overview
S03-E23 The 80+ page guidebook to best practices with postsecondary peer assisted learning programs provides field-tested and approved practices that can enhance any academic support program at a college that uses student-led study groups. This video provides a brief overview of the document. It...
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Updated Annotated Bibliography Now Available
S03-E22 This episode provides an overview of the 2020 Postsecondary Peer Cooperative Learning Program Bibliography. It contains 1,550+ publications and research studies on all the major national and international postsecondary peer assisted learning programs: Emerging Scholars Program, Peer-led...
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Choosing Most Effective Peer Learning Models
S03-E21 This episode provides five questions to ask when considering when postsecondary Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) model to use on campus. It is critical to understand the requirements to implement, available resources at the institution, and challenges to overcome. This podcast is part of the...
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Video-based Supplemental Instruction (VSI) Overview
S03-E20 Video-based Supplemental Instruction (VSI) is a course delivery system on video and processed in small groups that integrate mastery of rigorous course content and learning strategies. Students earn academic graduation credit for paired-courses (content and learning strategies). In the...
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Supplemental Instruction (SI) Overview
S03-E19 Supplemental Instruction (SI) is an academic enhancement and support program. SI creates a supportive learning community that empowers the students to develop their academic capacity to become powerful and independent learners. It was created at the University of Missouri – Kansas City in...
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Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) Overview
S03-E18 Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) is a mandatory workshop that support the academic success of all students enrolled in historically-challenging courses. SLA was developed at Ferris State University and is used at colleges across the U.S. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network...
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Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) Overview
S03-E17 Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) is a model of teaching undergraduate STEM courses that integrates peer-led workshops as an integral part of a course to increase success for all enrolled students, especially those that are historically-underrepresented. PLTL was created at City University of...
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Emerging Scholars Program Overview
S03-E16 The Emerging Scholars Program (ESP, known by other names) is a highly-structured workshop attached to academically-rigorous math courses to increase success of historically-underrepresented students. Created in the early 1970s by Dr. Philip Uri Treisman at the University of California,...
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Common Elemenrts of Peer Learning Groups
S03-E15 In this episode I identify the common elements, purposes, student challenges, and design features shared among the major postsecondary peer learning programs that operate on college campuses throughout the world. These programs include Emerging Scholars Program, Peer-led Team Learning…
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Interview with Izzi, Student PASS Leader, Australian Catholic Univ.
S03-E14 Izzi shares about her experience as a student PASS leader and what she has learned from the experience. A bonus PDF accompanies this short episode with information about PASS at her institution. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly podcasts...
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Interview with Martin, Student PASS Leader, Griffith Univ., Australia
S03-E13 Martin shares how his experiences as a student PASS leader and what he has learned from the experience. A bonus PDF accompanies this short episode with information about PASS at his institution. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly podcasts...
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Interview with Prahlad, Student PASS Leader, Marquarie Univ., Australia
S03-E12 Prahlad shares about his experiences as a student PASS leader and what he has learned from the experience. A bonus PDF accompanies this short episode with information about PASS at his institution. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly…
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Interview with Abhay, Student PASS Leader, Univ. of Sydney, Australia
S03-E11 Abhay shares about his experiences as a student PASS leader and what he has learned from the experience. A bonus PDF accompanies this short episode with information about PASS at his institution. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly podcasts...
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Interview with Claire, Student PASS Leader, Univ. of South Australia
S03-E10 Claire shares about her experience as a student PASS leader and what she has learned from the experience. A bonus PDF accompanies this short episode with information about PASS at her institution. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly podcasts...
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Overview of Australian Student Study Group Leader Interviews
S03-E09 Short overview to five-part series of interviews with college study group leaders in Australia. The common name for most programs is Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) in Australia. Accompanying this overview is an article about tertiary education (common name for higher education) in...
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Strengthening Relationships
S03-E08 Strengthening Relationships. I share how college study groups can increase student "belonging:" in college to support their satisfaction and academic achievement. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network which is a group of family-friendly podcasts bringing a positive message of…
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Peer Learning in Australasia
S03-E07 Students as Partners (SaP) is a new approach to peer learning by educators in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and a growing number in the U.S. Bonus content for this podcast is an annotated bibliography of 134 publications (114 Australia; 4 New Zealand)
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Professional Identity Development of PAL Facilitators
S03-E06 In this podcast episode, I share the change process that foster professional identity emergence among PAL facilitators. In addition to this audio episode, I also provide several PDF documents. One is a set of PP slides that I used with the talk. Another is a short annotated bibliography…
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About this show
The "PALgroups Podcast" is focused on college study review groups. PAL is the name for the study review groups used at the University of Minnesota. We drew upon best practices from national models such as Supplemental Instruction, Peer-led Team Learning, and the Emerging Scholars Program. I served on the team that created the PAL model on our campus. I serve as an Associate Professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department within the College of Education and Human Development.Some episodes share new things I am learning about postsecondary peer cooperative learning groups from the U.S. and countries around the world. Other episodes feature student study group leaders describing session activities that worked well with the subject matter and the students. Those interviews include what the PAL facilitator is learning personally and professionally about their experience. Initially, the interviews will be with PAL facilitators at the University of Minnesota. Eventually, study gr
Hosted by
David Arendale