‘Lightbulb’ moments in higher education: peer-to-peer support in engineering education

Abstract

Peer-to-peer programs are growing in popularity in higher education (HE) due to institutions' increased interest in engaging students as partners in learning and teaching. This study explores one institution's approach to engaging level 5 and level 6 undergraduate students as teaching assistants (TAs) in engineering to support the first-year transition and academic success. The study focuses on the effect of the pilot program on the peer mentors i.e., the TAs, rather than on the peer mentees. An online questionnaire was designed to investigate TAs' experiences of participating in a student-staff role, and the impact the role had on their academic and nonacademic skills development. The findings show that the TA role contributed to enhanced subject understanding and transferable skill development, particularly communication and learning skills. The main attribute valued by TAs was helping others and making a positive impact, contributing to their sense of belonging.

Peer Tutoring and Math Digital Tools: A Promising Combination in Middle School

“…The fact that students could associate different mathematical concepts in a more complex way is rational considering that these associations were promoted in three ways (teacher's explanations, peer's help, and analytical and graphical developments of the digital tools) instead of just the one way (teacher's explanations) of traditional learning [81][82][83][84]. Finally, the fact that students in the experimental group did more exercises and problems than those in the control group may be attributable to two main factors: the helping behaviour that usually arises during peer tutoring interactions [85][86][87][88] and the instant feedback provided by the digital tools [89][90][91].…”

A systematic review on near-peer teaching in higher education: Training, types of instruction, and outcomes

“…The most mentioned transferable skills were communicating and presenting (k = 8) and leadership and self-confidence as a leader (k = 6). Less often reported transferable skills were group dynamics (Fellmer-Drüg et al, 2014), teamwork (Maccabe & Fonseca, 2021, professional attitudes (punctuality, accountability; Yoon et al, 2017), and analyzing problems and finding solutions (Maccabe & Fonseca, 2021). Loke and Chow (2007) reported that NPTs felt that they had enhanced their self-regulated learning and critical thinking skills, while found no effect on critical thinking skills in their study.…”

“…Several studies included college-and studying-related outcomes. In four studies, the NPTs described how the experience enhanced their learning capacity by improving their study skills (e.g., Fellmer-Drüg et al, 2014), improving their sense of belonging on campus (Lozada & Johnson, 2019;Maccabe & Fonseca, 2021), self-reflection (Fellmer-Drüg et al, 2014), making them more open and vocal in class (Lozada & Johnson, 2019), understanding and appreciating professors' work (Gucciardi et al, 2017), and improving their ability to balance work and school (Lozada & Johnson, 2019).…”

Estrategias para facilitar el acompañamiento de estudiantes entre pares - [Strategies to facilitate peer-to-peer student mentoring]

“…También hay abundante literatura bibliografía que respalda la opinión de que los estudiantes se benefician significativamente de la enseñanza entre pares (Carr et al, 2018;Maccabe et al, 2021) como ha sucedido en este proyecto.…”