Tonight I watched an ALT 2021 session entitled ” Challenges and lessons learnt in building a student led online learning community in a pandemic” with several speakers from the University of Derby in the UK. This session had several speakers including mental health nurses (Longbone) and students (Hill): Jennifer Allam, Johanna Westwood, Sian Hill, and Anthony Longbone. The evolution of teaching during the pandemic at Derby was intriguing: they started by limiting in-person classes to 3 hours per student per day with the rest online, then they moved completely online, followed by a more blended approach. The presenters used Mentimeter to engage the audience and described their PAL: Peer Assisted Learning program. PAL leaders support learners in their first and foundation years.
The scheme for PAL included fully online delivery, teams using Microsoft Teams for different disciplines. PAL leaders are contracted for up to 2 hours per week. Westwood spoke about how the PAL leaders also learned important life skills. PAL “promoted both collaborative and personal learning.” Westwood mentioned that PAL Leaders shared study tips and experience, and their space became “a safe space for new students to ask for help.” Encouraging students to ask for help will be one of the goals of the BIT metagenomics course. The role the teaching assistant plays may now include peer assisted learning leader!
