Faculty
Report
Research Concerning Peer Cooperative Learning
Programs
David Arendale, Ph.D.
Research Objectives and Questions
As a new faculty member in the General College, it is essential that I establish
a clearly defined set of research objectives and questions to investigate.
My research objectives include the exploration of issues related to academic
access in postsecondary education and developing strategies to increase the
success of underrepresented student populations in college. Within these
objectives, a series of questions have been generated. One of them is, What
are the critical components that are needed to create a new, more powerful
and relevant peer cooperative learning model?
Interest in Peer Cooperative Learning Programs
For more than a decade, I designed a training curriculum, wrote descriptive
and research publications, and conducted workshops to encourage hundreds of
colleges in the U.S. and other countries to implement the Supplemental Instruction
(SI) academic intervention program. While the SI model has been very popular
in higher education, there are different models that have been adopted by other
colleges. Based on new research, these other models seek to address the academic
and motivation needs of today’s college students.
Today’s increasingly diverse student body requires a model based upon
emerging theories of learning and those related to gender and culture. Theory
must lead the practice. A model is needed that will deal with needs of individual
students rather than expecting students to imitate the behaviors of the “model” students
who generally have identified with the culture of the institution and that
of the professor, who is also generally a member of the dominant culture.
Related to this research concerning peer cooperative learning groups is the
need to explore “help-seeking behaviors” of students regarding
access to and voluntary use of services such as advising, counseling, and peer
tutoring. This behavior needs to be deconstructed and analyzed, and new programs
must be developed that meet the needs of students. Too often the students who
could most benefit from services do not avail themselves of the resources and
quietly drop out of the institution.
Peer collaborative learning has been popular in education for decades. As pedagogy
and learning strategy, it has been frequently adopted and adapted for a wide
range of academic content areas throughout education at the elementary, secondary,
and postsecondary levels. The professional literature is filled with reports
of individual professors integrating this approach into classrooms in diverse
ways.
Identifying the Major Peer Cooperative Learning Programs
I have narrowed the focus of my literature review to peer cooperative learning
programs that meet the following criteria: the program must have been implemented
at the postsecondary or tertiary level; the program must have a clear set of
systematic set of procedures for its implementation at an institution; program
evaluation studies must have been conducted and be made available for review;
and the program must have been replicated at another institution with similar
positive student outcomes. Six programs emerged: Accelerated Learning Groups
(ALGs), Emerging Scholars Program (ESP), Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), Structured
Learning Assistance (SLA), Supplemental Instruction (SI), and Video-based Supplemental
Instruction (VSI).
I have completed a first draft of an annotated bibliography of the professional
literature concerning these six programs. By its very nature, this document
will become dated as soon as it is printed. Several times each year it will
be updated and reposted on the Internet. While the document will be fairly
complete regarding ALGs, SI, and VSI, research is ongoing for the other three
programs. Some references in this document will not have an annotation since
the publications are still under review or are in the process of collection.
Several publications will be included in both the SI and VSI sections of the
bibliography since they address both programs. A more effective and up-to-date
way to locate information is through a searchable database of citations that
form the basis of this print document. This Web-based database will be regularly
updated throughout the year. In addition, the Web site will permit users to
search the database of more than 600 references by a variety of search terms.
The user is
encouraged to read through the documentation to gain the most benefit from
using the database search engine. When possible, original text from the author’s
document overview or summary paragraphs were used in this annotated bibliography.
Frequently, when peer cooperative programs are adopted for use outside the
institution or country of origin, they are often contextualized for the educational
system and needs of each individual setting. Nearly one-fourth of the entries
in this database are from authors and researchers outside of the United States.
Sometimes particular programs are renamed. For example, while the Supplemental
Instruction Program is the common term used in the United States, in other
countries it is sometimes called PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) or PALS
(Peer Assisted Learning Sessions). The Emerging Scholars Program sometimes
operates under different names as well.
Next Steps
I am currently pilot testing a new peer cooperative learning program based
upon this research with my own classes here at General College. After I have
collected sufficient data, I will submit manuscripts for potential publications
and make presentations at professional conferences concerning the results with
this new model. I look forward to joining with other colleagues at other institutions
to continue this research. If you have interest in joining these efforts, please
contact me at (612) 625-2928 or by e-mail at David@Arendale.org.
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David
Arendale
CRDEUL faculty adviser for
outreach
Annotated
Bibliography of Postsecondary Peer Collaborative Learning Programs
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