Exploring Student Commitment to Use Peer Advice

Presentation given at 2014 SoTL Commons: A Conference for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Savannah, GA.

Increasing numbers of faculty are having students write “strategies for success” for future students in their courses. Our research explores the impact of this practice on student learning behaviors and course performance. Specifically, we are investigating: what strategies students give to their peers and how this varies by course within discipline and across disciplines, what strategies students commit to in the presence/absence of peer advice and how this varies by course within discipline and across disciplines, and what effect honoring their commitments to strategies has on ultimate student performance in the course and how this varies by the presence/absence of peer advice.

During the previous academic year, we asked our students to provide advice to future students in our same courses. Over the summer, we coded and organized this advice by course to give to select sections of our courses during the next semester. On the first day of class in the Fall, control sections received only a syllabus and experimental sections received a syllabus with tips for success from former students attached as the last pages. All students then received a form requesting them to commit to at least three specific learning strategies to maximize their success in our courses. In addition, students completed the Biggs Study Process Questionnaire. In the last week of class, students completed a form reflecting on their leaning commitments and the extent to which they kept each of them. They also completed a brief questionnaire about this methodology and once again completed the Biggs Study Process Questionnaire.

The objectives of this session are to share with attendees the results of this research project. The audience will be involved in discussions throughout the presentation. The audience can expect to leave the session with a greater understanding of the impact of the practice of having students write “strategies for success” for future students in their courses.