Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs

This article will clarify what Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) is, and how it might help students, peer tutors and teachers in higher education. Based on references of the empirical PAL-literature, it presents some key-aspects, strategies, learning outcomes and benefits of PAL. Further, major identifiable components are mapped out in a step-by-step process for a successful implementation, and suggestions are given to overcome common difficulties. A good communication coupled with support by the institute form the thread through all efforts. This article aims to be inspiring for teachers in higher education and incites them to get more interested in and to start with PAL.

It is widely recognized that metacognitive regulation is an important mediator for successful and high-level learning, especially in higher education. Not only do academic tasks at this level demand higher-order thinking and independent learning, the organization of higher education gives students more responsibility in controlling and managing their own learning as well. Notwithstanding the abundance of empirical research on metacognitive regulation, studies on the emerging topic of social regulation – which stresses the potential of collaborative learning in the promotion of metacognition – are rather scarce. The present study aims to contribute in this respect by exploring the potential influence of reciprocal peer tutoring, as a specific type of peer-assisted learning, on university students’ metacognitive regulation skills. The study was conducted in a naturalistic higher education setting at Ghent University, with 67 students Pedagogical Sciences participating as tutors and tutees. Their use of metacognitive regulation was measured in a pretest-posttest design, by means of concurrent think-aloud protocol analysis: both before and after participation in the tutoring program students verbalized their cognitive actions (including their metacognitive activities) while individually performing an academic task. Results reveal that reciprocal peer tutoring is not only a powerful but also a promising approach when stimulating university students’ metacognitive regulation. After participation in the tutoring program, students demonstrate significantly more frequent, a more varied and a higher-quality use of metacognitive regulation skills, especially during orientation, monitoring, and evaluation phase. However, significant effects on students’ metacognitive planning behaviours could not be distinguished.

As part of an Educational Innovation Project, Peer Assisted Learning was implemented in five undergraduate programs, as an extra, facultative opportunity for the students. In this article we highlight the perspective of the tutee to answer following questions: (1) Is PAL an effective format (as experienced by the students) in relation to the participation of students and the quality of the content of the sessions? (2) Are the PAL sessions meaningful with respect to improving learning outcomes and learning strategy and the general satisfaction of the participants? (3) What is the profile of participants and non-participants? The number of students that attained the PAL-sessions, ranged from 13 to 40%. The students’ perception of the content and didactic quality of the sessions was positive, but in this respect our study also reveals some important points. The additional workload for the tutees was low. The main motives for participating were being interested in the course and a preference to study together. Reasons for not participating varied. The study results for these subjects showed that participants scored significantly higher than non-participants. According to the students themselves PAL sessions provide primarily clarification of the content, a safe learning environment and feedback on learning strategy. Among the participants there are more girls, less students who use a superficial learning strategy, they are better suited to academic life and are more motivated.

Peer Assisted Learning has proven its effectiveness within higher education. Many educators advocate the power of a facilitative approach to tutoring in which the peer tutor activates students to think for themselves and to take more responsibility for their learning. However, it can be questioned whether it is feasible to expect a facilitative tutoring approach from novice peer tutors. Hence, a qualitative study was set up in a naturalistic tutoring program of a science curriculum in higher education. More specifically, the focus rests on investigating peer tutors’ experienced challenges while disentangling the features that underlie these challenges. Seventeen older year peer tutors were interviewed in-depth about their weekly tutoring sessions. Four main challenges were brought to the fore: defining and planning interventions, differentiating, dealing with silences, and group management. Furthermore, these challenges were brought in relationship to diverse factors which were reported to reinforce or moderate tutors’ challenges. These factors were situated on the level of the student, the peer tutor, and the context. In short, this study shows that peer tutors do understand the power of facilitative tutoring, but also stresses the need for more training and coaching in order to overcome diverse challenges hampering effective tutoring.