week 6: PAL's missing piece

Dear flowers,

Week 6 of PAL was quite interesting. We did a brainstorm of things that we think are missing at PAL at our uni. Have a look at it below. Isn't it beautiful?

The following are questions that I have considered personally. I believe that if these questions remain unsolved it will limit the growth of PAL at uni.

- Should students interested in PAL do a pre-test so that PAL leaders are well aware of each students strengths, weaknesses and learning preferences?
Perhaps in the first few PAL sessions students can be asked if they would like to complete an anonymous questionnaire or discuss as a group their learning styles and motivations. This may inform PAL leaders instruction, for example if students are shown to have more preference to present information visually than verbally the PAL leader can cater for this.

- Should there be PAL session dedicated to cognitive strategies?
For example, one session per week to cover effective note-taking, essay writing (understanding Bloom's Taxonomy) and research report writing. This can also be discipline specific. However, this will require PAL leaders to be trained in cognitive strategies as we cannot just assume that all PAL leaders are fully equipped or even feel confident themselves in using these skills. This is something I am quite interested in as a potential postgrad because I think that this issue is the elephant in the room that teachers are not finding the time to deal with. And so, as a result, students waste their time using the wrong skills which hinders their learning. Cognitive skills need to be taught explicitly rather than assumed of by students and PAL perhaps may be a good avenue for this.

- How does PAL cater for cultural differences in PAL sessions?
The implications of not catering to cultural differences may lead to the exclusion of some students. This is something that really needs to be considered at uni since we are such a diverse community and have many international students who I'm sure would be interested in PAL if it was perceived as more inclusive.

- How do we assess that students have learnt anything from PAL sessions?
The PAL leader whose session I attended last week liked to get students to present their main ideas to the rest of the group at the end of the session. However, on this occasion, a group of students left 10 minutes before the the PAL session was over because they needed time to walk to their next class which was on the other side of uni. And so, sadly, they were unable to present and the other focus were unable to benefit from the other group's discussion. How can PAL leaders 'make' people stay without feeling forced? Should PAL sessions be held in more central locations rather than on the outskirts of uni?

- How do we ensure that students maximise their benefit during PAL sessions?
Should we provide a basic guide of what PAL is all about to first year students? This guide can present the statistics of students who participate in PAL sessions and their final marks. This guide can make students aware that PAL sessions are not lecture-style or even tutorial-style sessions. They can also be made aware that PAL leaders are not lecturers nor tutors and will certainly not spoon-feed any answers. At the beginning of PAL sessions perhaps as a group they can complete a mind map of the lecture material covered that week. This can help to light up some neurons and active students prior knowledge so that they don't feel like they are diving into the deep end to quickly.

- Are PAL leaders receiving the training they need to become effective PAL leaders?
Something that I've been thinking about is developing a PAL leadership training manual. I think that it's important that PAL leaders with limited or no teaching experience should receive adequate training. They need to be equipped with strategies in dealing with classroom management and in particular students who refuse to cooperate with the way that PAL works. I cannot imagine being asked to run my first PAL session without being modelled some effective teaching strategies, observe a PAL session, and be expected to doing things ad hoc. Having a training manual that the PAL leader can constantly refer to would firstly help potential PAL leaders to develop interest in the PAL process and secondly, ensure that all PAL leaders are receiving the same standard level of training.

For the unit we were asked to work on a grant application which I found extremely challenging. And of course it would be, academics are vying for the same prize, as if I'd stand a chance? But honestly, it was nice to do an assessment that could potentially mean something to the university and that could potentially grow PAL.


Love,

Miss Fun size

week 5: the deep end of PAL

Dear flowers,

I attended my first PAL session with a classmate of mine and found that the reality of PAL was quite in line with the research I did for my essay, in terms of it's features, advantages and disadvantages.

Firstly, the PAL leader was incredibly friendly. The first thing she asked the group was, "What would you like to talk about today?" She explained to my classmate and I that the students get to decide how they would like to spend their time. That they divide themselves into focus groups and work through their problems together while she allocates time with each group depending on how much help she thinks they need. Also at the end of each session she asks each group to do an oral presentation so that the whole group can benefit from their individual group's discussion, which reminds me of Jigsaw learning.

The PAL leader was highly valued by the students which was made clear to me when one student mentioned that she must have been quite good since she was employed as a PAL leader for not just one but for numerous units and wouldn't be a PAL leader if she wasn't "exceptional". I asked this student if they judge their PAL leaders based on their marks and he said no, that they never ask them how they did in their exams but naturally assume that they are at least competent. The PAL leader kept things positive when students criticised lectures and tutorials, she told them how to better prepare for future PAL sessions, for example by providing a list of key terms that they were unfamiliar with and even suggested some note-taking strategies. This is something that clearly separates lecturers from PAL leaders. Since lecturers usually have quite a deep understanding of their unit, their 'basic knowledge' becomes not-so-basic for their students. PAL leaders are students themselves, they have experienced that unit, and hence are more cognitively congruent with first and second year students attending PAL sessions.

In addition, the PAL leader used her own lecture notes from when she did the course as a reference when discussing with the students and would frequently direct questions back to students rather than answering the questions herself. I particularly liked how inclusive she was of everyone even if they were running late.

I decided to listen in on the 'chemical sensors' focus group and observed the following. The conversation between the group members was reciprocated and on-task most of the time. At times they would make connections and go off on tangents but in the end someone would always bring things back on track. There was a sense of equality between the group as they acknowledged each others contributions by saying things like, "You're absolutely right" and "I didn't realise the significance of that so thank you." The group tended to focus on emphasised or key material and would classify content based on the likelihood of it being included in the upcoming exam. They finally reached a consensus being that everything was possibly examinable.

The PAL session reminded me of the study groups that I participate in just before exams where we focus on extracting meaning by manipulating the course content to suit our levels of experience. The chemical sensors group created metaphors such as, "it's like a lego set, there are a fixed amount of pieces to code for specific odours which are limited in number." I thought that this was particularly clever and was able to see the rest of the group understand a concept previously perceived as complex. They related the content to other subjects such as chemistry and physics which just provided more evidence for how PAL sessions are a place for meaning making and forming connections. It also made me really happy when members of the group would ask to make sure that everyone understood what was said before moving onto another topic. This revealed to me the authenticity of PAL and the genuineness of the hardworking people who attend.

The only disadvantage I was made aware of was when a student said that they get less out of PAL if they don't adequately prepare themselves. And that it can be frustrating when some new students expect a lecture-style seminar and so limit their contributions to the group.

This same student mentioned that he is aware that his level of knowledge can only get him so far. And that when he goes to PAL sessions he is able to benefit from other people's knowledge and hence extend his own which is something you can never achieve through independent study.

I really benefited from attending this PAL session. It opened my eyes to the reality and practicality of PAL, it's true nature. I can see myself setting up similarly styled PAL sessions when I become a primary school teacher. For example, year 6 students can run shared reading programs with younger grades, modelling to students effective reading strategies and perhaps resilience when they make mistakes. Also, year 6 students can help younger grades prepare for NAPLAN rather than time spent on teacher-directed activities.

I am excited to discover ways in which PAL can be implemented in the primary school setting as it is crystal clear that it is an effective program for students in higher education.


Love,
Miss Fun size