Click on the department to see how they have been used there.
Professor Cooks, Art History 66.
Used peer educator to assist students with the
interpretation of texts and selection of images for class
presentations. The peer educator also made slide lists and led review sessions
before the midterm and final exams.
Professor Maxwell, Art History 11 and Arts and Sciences 47.
Used peer educators especially to aid students in
preparation for quizzes and examinations. Peer educators held office
hours in Alpha-related settings, especially Graham lounges. The
office hours were grouped around quizzes and examinations and were
scheduled for around 9 pm when I am not available. They also did slide
reviews for students before the examinations.
Professor Soukup, Communication 12. At first the two PEs attended class
and led in-class discussion groups on readings and work. When the Peer Educators
saw that this was not initally working well, mainly because students were coming
to the discussion groups inadequately prepared, the PEs took the initiative
to develop clearer expectations and plans for the discussion groups. Then the
groups started working better.
The PEs also helped students with the technology demands of the course, to a large
extent by circulating in the lab while students were at work on computer-aided
projects.
The PEs held office hours. It ssems like these were underutilized.
Professor Danielson, Coen 1. The PEs in Coen 1 will assist with laboratory
assignments and conduct weekly review sessions. I have conducted review
sessions in that class, but time constraints limit them to every third
week or so. In addition, the PEs will monitor and contribute to the Web Board
discussions sessions. I will also use the PE to hold open Web laboratory
sessions, where students can come in and go through on-line supplemental
resources with the PE there to help. The PE will also help students in building
their personal home pages, which is one of the project-oriented components
of the course.
Professor Lewis, COEN 6. This COEN course typically had four lab sections;
the Peer Educators started each 3 hour lab with 30-60 minutes of discussion of
the previous week's lecture material. For the most part this was material the
students needed to learn in order to do their labs. Not all of the PE's attended
class.
One of the PE's really did a wonderful job making the pre-lab discussions
Socratic and interactive. The other PEs tended to fall back into re-lecturing,
which was also beneficial for the students.
Professor Wood, Elen/Coen 21. The Peer Educators will work very closely with
the student in laboratories, so they will better understand what they're
learning and (quite importantly) learn the kind of troubleshooting skills
they'll need to successfully build and debug hardware in subsequent courses.
The PEs will also hold weekly review sessions for the students.
Professor Kamas, Economics 13. The peer educators met twice weekly with the
students going over problem sets and answering questions. They held
special reviews for the exams. They also led discussion sessions on
three cases on which the students wrote papers. The topics were the
new economy, the current recession and Bush's fiscal policy, and the
great depression.
Professor Klein, Economics 2. The Peer Educator facilitated a series of
colloquia on topics established by Klein. Students received reading
assignments and discussion questions to consider before attending
each colloquium, and they wrote two-page reflections on the experience
that Klein evaluated. They were allowed to choose 4 out of 7 in
which to participate. Their reflective essays as well as attendance
at and participation in the colloquia had some impact on their grade.
After an initial one or two meetings, the Peer Educator worked out ways
to shift responsibility for student participation back to the students.
She found it more rewarding to lead the meetings after that.
Professor Aimone, English 1. The peer educator helped plan class logistics
and provided ongoing advice and suggestions
about pedagogy and content of the class. (She was a senior business student
who had taken advanced business writing from me and the class was English
1.) She researched video materials for presentation in class. She attended
all class sessions and met with me after every session, to give me extra
feedback on what was happening in the class, as a second set of "eyes and
ears." She brought to my attention students who were not fully keeping up
but not taking initiative to get help to do so. She acted as a peer tutor
for students in and out of class, at her discretion, and far above the call
of duty -- I
hadn't expected her to need to keep them, but she kept as many
office hours as I did. I allowed her to present directly to the whole class
a brief discussion on the relevance of writing skills for the workplace and
job search, based on her own, ongoing experience. (She was interviewing
with Deloitte and Touche and several other firms during the term.)
Professor Billings, English 1H and 2. The peer educator
came to class regularly so as to know what we were covering
and how the students were doing; additionally, she was thereby able to
give me feedback from a student's perspective of how class was going.
She held her own office hours before each paper at times
different from mine; she assisted with peer critiques during class
time, and she met with students or communicated with them via email to
provide them with additional feedback on their drafts. She
participated on the Prometheus discussion board to prompt students'
questions and to answer them the same way that I did. In each of the
three classes she peer-educated in, she led at least one class
discussion of the reading or writing issues for the students.
Professor Booth, English 43 and 168. Peer educators held office hours
weekly, usually in the evening, to meet with students to discuss the
readings, talk about their writing assignments, and troubleshoot any
concerns that students might not want to take to the professor.
They model certain kinds of academic work; in the spring quarter, for
example, the peer educator presented a model the reading responses each student
had to do.
Peer educators also made short presentations (2-5, depending on the
peer educator) to the class, talking about a reading or a concept,
planning a class activity, and again providing a model of academic
work of high quality.
Phyllis Brown, English 2. Peer Educators will lead five colloquia with the
purpose of helping students write a formal literary analysis, working
from assigned readings and an informal journal entry on a related topic.
Students will choose to attend one of the five colloquia. Peer Educators
will also hold office hours the nights before journal entries are due and before
the midterm. Peer Educators will also assist with small discussions in class
and with details relating to the FRC performances.
Phyllis Brown, Honors 12. A Peer Educator working with me in an
Honors 12 class attended almost all classes, occasionally contributed
to discussion, met with all the students outside of class at least
once to discuss paper topics and or to help with review before exams,
and met with me weekly to discuss how the class was going.
Phyllis Brown, English 21.
Two Peer Educators worked with me in Introduction to Poetry classes
winter and spring quarters. They attended most classes, contributed
to discussions, did a sample group presentation for the class, met
with each student outside class at least once, facilitated review
sessions, and met with me weekly to discuss how the class was going.
Professor Burnham, English 1. Peer educators helped facilitate small
group discussion in class, held one on one conferences with students
to plan and discuss paper topics, worked with class presentation
groups to help them plan their presentations, and helped me to
assemble a poetry reading packet.
Professor Dunbar, English 54.
My two Peer Educators for Introduction to
Shakespeare course, which fulfills a third writing requirement, were
Olga Kuskova and Ali Christian. They received very high praise from
the students for their work, which included, especially,: (1) one to
one tutoring students in writing skills as well as in conceptualizing
and organizing their papers for the course. The Peer Educators did
such tutoring in several ways: during the office hour each had once a
week; during special appointment times outside of class; during
scheduled one to one conference times toward the end of the quarter
required twice of each student while writing their long research
papers. (2) Olga and Ali also each had responsibility for about four
small groups or pairs of students whom they coached outside of class
time to help the students prepare excellent oral reports and panel
presentations during the quarter to the whole class. Olga and Ali
also modelled a panel presentation themselves, analyzing issues of
gender and power relevant to the role of Gertrude in Hamlet. They met
with me sometimes once per week, sometimes every other week, during
the quarter, to have a time of reflection, analysis, and creative
thinking about the course, student learning, their observations, their
learning as peer educators. Olga said this course had the best use of
Peer Educators she had ever experienced.
Professor Edelstein, English 32.
I had 2 peer educators (both of whom had taken the class before, one
with me) for my English 32 in spring 2003. They helped facilitate
small-group discussions in class, contributed to and sometimes spurred
full-class discussions, conducted review sessions before 2 quizzes and
the midterm, and offered to help students with their take-home final.
Students reported that the review sessions were very helpful; no one
asked the p.e.'s for help with the take-home finals (and only two
students saw me about them--a smaller than usual number). The peer
educators also led class one day when I was home sick. I'd sent them
discussion questions and background materials on the texts we were
scheduled to discuss that day; from all reports, the discussion seems
to have gone very well.
Professor Elrod, English 1. The peer educator led small group discussions (of
challenging academic essays) in class and helped run peer editing
sessions. Outside of class she met with students to look at rough
drafts and helped suggest revision strategies. She also helped
students learn to edit their own sentences. And she met with groups
as they planned their class presentations.
Professor Elrod, English 20 and 39. The peer educators
were used much the same as in English 1,
though in a more formal way.
Class discussions were more structured, peer editing and presentation
meetings with peer eds were required. They were crucial to the
success of these courses.
Professor Gould, English 2. Used peer educators
in peer review groups about every two weeks.
Students also make appointments or come for drop in office hours with
the peer educators when they are working on the first drafts of
papers. Most useful here is having someone to talk to about the
concept of the paper. Encouraged the peer educators to contribute to
in-class discussions and asked them to give at least one presentation
in class on something I think students need background on, such as an
abstract on a relevant scholarly article.
Professor Gould, English 79. The peer educators were used much the same
as in English 2. In addition they
help a lot with the logistics of our speakers: meeting them at the
train, helping them with handouts, doing flyers and advertisements,
writing press releases or articles for the paper, taking pictures,
setting up video equipment. This part always worries me because it
seems to be treating them more like teaching assistants,
but I know they have learned
from and enjoyed the time they have spent with speakers (professors,
artists, writers, musicians, etc.), and our speakers are always so
impressed with the students.
Professor Hawley, English 79. Used peer educators
principally to lead small group discussions to prepare the class
in the writing of thematic papers. In the poetry class, as English
majors who had taken the class they led the way in interpreting the
poems and in demonstrating how it was done.
Professor Rynes, English 20. The peer educator
gave oral
presentations explaining various critical approaches to literary
texts. She also wrote model essays for specific assignments and
provided a comprehensive summary of short stories in the anthology we
used as source material for analysis. Finally, she participated in
in-class group discussions and coached students in writing by editing
rough drafts of assigned papers.
Professor Rynes, English 2. The peer educator was used much the same
as in English 20 but this time focused most of her attention on
providing precis of chapters in the basic text used for
discussion. She provided individual attention for some students who
asked for help in improving their writing. One student, Alex Nickels,
did have one of his essays printed in The Santa Clara student
newspaper.
Professor Rynes, English 43. Besides participating in in-class
discussions, the peer educator devoted most of her attention to
guiding groups composed of three students through the process of
researching and coordinating their oral presentations on various
aspects of the background for Victorian and 20th Century British
Literature. This required meetings in the library outside class,
mostly on weekends.
Professor Rynes, English 42.
The peer educator had studied in
England during the fall quarter and was able to collect photos,
maps, and other materials to illustrate the background of the
literature the class studied. She gave a few oral presentations but
spent most of her time helping groups of three students prepare for
their oral presentations on various aspects of the background for
the literary texts studied in the course.
Professor French, History 11. French's class will be linked with Psychology
10 in Campisi RLC. During the first few weeks of the quarter, the Peer Educator
will help French and Numan (the other instructor) work with students in their
classes to design activities that will help the RLC achieve its objectives.
In addition, the Peer Educators will hold office hours at which they will
help students in History 11 plan group presentations, study for exams, and write
essays. French will invite the Peer Educators to suggest other class activities
and enrichment assignments.
Professor Schaefer, Math 11, 12, 13. Two days a week, homework is due at the
beginning of class. On those days, the last 15 minutes of class are spent responding
to questions from students about homework problems they could not do. On a given
day, a single PE will show how to solve the requested problem at the board.
Beforehand, I explain to the PE's how to present methods of solution in addition
to the solution itself.
There are four interactive quizzes lasting 12 minutes each and consisting of
a single problem. When students think they have a solution, or when they
are stuck, they come up to the front. If the work is correct, it is accepted;
if not, the error is pointed out. If the student is stuck, a hint is given.
The PE's and I each stand at the front of the room to provide this interaction.
The goal is that every student has a perfect paper by the end of the quiz (they
don't count much).
The PE's hold four office hours each week. These are held in the residence
hall when the
class is an RLC course. The PE's hold office hours the evenings before homework
is due.
Each PE holds one evening review session before a mid-term, lasting about 90
minutes.
Professor Lukes, Political Science 1. Peer Educators assisted the students
with their on-line research (in-part with a statistical package with
which SCu has license rights) in a computer lab. The students would circulate
and help pairs of students as they worked together on a computer. One PE was more
available the first quarter. This arrangement switched the next quarter with
the other being more available.
The PE's seemed to have been of significant help allowing the on-line, technical
part of the course to work well for the students very rapidly.
Professor Cook, Religious Studies 8. The PE attended class and helped organize
and process a series of off-campus experiences which allowed groups of students
to participate in different worship contexts and meet with members of those
religious communities. The student also led one class meeting (the Peer Educator
Program discourages this) and held some office hours, which were underutilized.
Professor Peter, RSOC 9, linked with Connie Cortez' art history course
in Campisi RLC.
Meeting RLC Objectives: Peer Educators are to become
familiar with the objectives of the RLC and then suggest activities, assignments,
etc. which will help achieve these objectives. Planning the Course: PEs will
meet with me before the quarter start to assist in planning the course, especially,
helping to determine the order of assignments and the group to which each student
is assigned. Observation Assignment: PEs will help students organize their
"observation" visits to local religious rituals in traditions not their own.
Study Groups: PEs will convene small study groups to help students prepare for
class exams in RSOC 9. Class Involvement: Every opportunity will be given
to the PEs to participate in class presentations either by (a) engaging in
in-class conversations with me around questions submitted in writing by students
about the reading material of the day, (b) interacting with me in class abou the
day's reading materials, (c) giving independent presentations to the class, or
(d) some combination of the above.
Professor Pleins, Scripture and Tradition 35.
The peer educator focused on small group
discussions. As the small groups tackled questions assigned to them
on the basis of the course readings and lecture materials, the peer
educator would insert himself into the group to help stimulate a
richer engagement of the questions at hand. It was very effective to
have a knowledgeable peer challenge their thinking, raise new
questions, and press students to flesh out their own ideas in a fuller
way.
Click on Homepage to get back to the Peer Educator Program
homepage.
Last changed: August 1, 2003
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