Postsecondary Peer Cooperative Learning Programs: Annotated Bibliography 2014
Author: Arendale, David, Comp.
Date: 2014-07-28
Type: Reference Materials - Bibliographies
Subjects: Postsecondary Education,Cooperative Learning,College Students,College Programs,Academic Support Services,Video Technology,Peer Relationship,Annotated Bibliographies

Peer collaborative learning has been popular in education for decades. As both pedagogy and learning strategy, it has been frequently adopted and adapted for a wide range of academic content areas at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels due to its benefits. The professional literature is filled with reports of individual professors integrating this approach into postsecondary classrooms in diverse ways. Increased attention has been placed on this practice due to claims that carefully implementing learning programs with specific protocols can increase student persistence rates towards graduation, supporting both student goal aspirations as well as bolstering institutional revenues. Much of the narrative from this overview to the bibliography is drawn from a previously published article published by me on peer cooperative learning groups. This annotated bibliography does not attempt to be inclusive of this broad field of literature concerning peer collaborative learning. Instead, it is focused intentionally on a subset of the educational practice that shares a common focus with increasing student persistence towards graduation. At the end of this overview, several suggestions are made for differentiating the models from each other and the level of institutional resources and resolve with implementing them. The six student peer learning programs included in this bibliography meet the following characteristics: (a) implemented at the postsecondary or tertiary level; (b) clear set of systematic procedures for its implementation that could be replicated by another institution; (c) program evaluation studies have been conducted and are available for review; (d) intentionally embeds learning strategy practice along with review of the academic content material; (e) outcomes include increased content knowledge, higher final course grades, higher pass rates, and higher college persistence rates; and (f) the program has been replicated at another institution with similar positive student outcomes. From a review of the professional literature, six programs emerged: (a) Accelerated Learning Groups (ALGs), (b) Emerging Scholars Program (ESP), (c) Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), (d) Structured Learning Assistance (SLA), (e) Supplemental Instruction (SI), and (f) Video-based Supplemental Instruction (VSI). As will be described in the following narrative, some of the programs share common history and seek to improve upon previous practices. Other programs were developed independently. When possible, original text from the author's document overview or summary paragraphs were used in this annotated bibliography. Frequently when peer collaborative programs are adopted for use outside the institution or country of origin, it is 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 program 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. Examples include Treisman Workshop Program and the Gateway Science Program. [This is a revised version of ED489957.]