The leaders solve problems using the collaborative-learning strategies that they learned in the SAM course. The course instructors design the PLTL problems and designate which collaborative-learning strategies the Peer Leaders should use when working on each problem.
Peer Leaders take the (PAM) course during the fall and spring semesters. PAM is a 2-credit, General Studies course that meets once a week for 2 hours. There are multiple discipline-specific sections, each of which is taught by one of the instructors of the “parent” course (i.e. Calculus).
PAM Course Activities
During each PAM session, Peer Leaders:
- Practice the collaborative-learning strategies that their PLTL groups will use while solving problems during the upcoming PLTL group meetings
- Identify aspects of the problems, and of the underlying concepts, that are likely to be challenging for their PLTL groups
- Discuss how to facilitate a fruitful discussion of the important aspects or topics in a given problem
- Sharpen their knowledge of the underlying concepts
Major Assignments
- Three interrogative assignments consisting of suggested questions to be used to help “seed” discussions of important concepts and relationships, as well as detailed answers
- Two observations of other Peer Leaders’ sessions
- Development of at least one new PLTL problem or activity
- Participation in the spring interview process to select new Peer Leaders