Student-to-Student Learning Glossary

Increasing Student Success

Student-to-Student Learning

Organized or informal approaches may occur during class sessions or afterward. If the activity is embedded within the course session, these could also be included in the Transitional Courses Programs category. An annotated bibliography of more than 1,900 publications is available of the major national and international peer cooperative learning programs described in this glossary (Arendale, 2021).

Accelerated Learning Groups (ALGs)

1. Definition: “ACCELERATED LEARNING GROUPS (ALGs) were developed at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in the early 1990s by Dr. Sydney Stansbury. ALGs were designed to meet the needs of students who had significant skill or knowledge deficiencies that often inhibited their effective use of other peer collaborative learning programs such as SI. ALGs combine peer-led small group learning activities, assessment, frequent feedback by a learning skills specialist, and individual education plan (IEP) development for each student. ALG students are concurrently enrolled in a challenging entry-level course while they develop the necessary skills and knowledge prescribed by the IEP. The ALG students are placed into a triad with another student with similar IEP objectives and a peer leader who works intensely with the students under the supervision of a learning skills specialist. Participation in ALGs continues in the academic term until the learning skills specialist deems it appropriate to transition into another peer development program such as Supplemental Instruction or individual tutoring. The developer of the ALG model, Sydney Stansbury, can be contacted via email at [e-mail]. This peer learning model is one example of COURSE BASED LEARNING ASSISTANCE” (Arendale, 2021, p. 14).

2. Compare with COURSE-BASED LEARNING ASSISTANCE, COOPERATIVE LEARNING, and DEVELOPMENTAL-LEVEL COURSE.

adjunct instructional programs (AIP)

See COURSE-BASED LEARNING ASSISTANCE (CLA).

collaborative learning

1. Definition: Students working and learning from one another. These activities may be planned or unplanned. They may be under the supervision of an instructor or other students. These activities may occur within a classroom or in other locations. The goal is the development of knowledge and skill mastery.

2. Compare with COOPERATIVE LEARNING, COURSE-BASED LEARNING ASSISTANCE, PEER EDUCATION, and STUDENTS AS PARTNERS.

cooperative learning

1. Definition: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING is a broad category of student activities in which learners work with each other to complete a task. The six critical features of COOPERATIVE LEARNING that differentiate it in the comparison include (a) positive interdependence among group participants; (b) individual accountability for involvement; (c) appropriate rationale and task purpose for the group; (d) structured student interactions with designated activities rather than free-form discussion; (e) facilitation by an instructor or expert peer; and (f) attention to the development of social skills such as interpersonal communications and leadership development (Johnson et al.,1998).

2. Compare with COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, COURSE-BASED LEARNING ASSISTANCE, PEER EDUCATION, and STUDENTS AS PARTNERS.

course-based learning assistance (CLA)

1. Definitions: (a) Forms of group cooperative learning that accompany a specific course to serve as a supplement for that course. There are a variety of CLA approaches. These activities may occur outside of class or may be embedded within the course. Student participation may be voluntary or mandatory. Some CLA programs award academic credit for student participation; and (b) CLA can also be less formal and take the form of study cluster groups and group problem-solving sessions (Arendale, 2005).

2. Examples: ACCELERATED LEARNING MODEL, EMERGING SCHOLARS PROGRAM (UC- Berkeley Model), PEER-LED TEAM LEARNING (CUNY Model), STRUCTURED LEARNING ASSISTANCE (Ferris State University Model), SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION-PASS=PAL (UMKC Model), and VIDEO-BASED SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION (UMKC Model).

3. Compare with COOPERATIVE LEARNING, COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, PEER EDUCATION, and STUDENTS AS PARTNERS.

embedded academic support

1. Definition: Academic assistance managed by a course instructor and operating in the course either during a class session or an online lesson. A student tutor, study group leader, or professional staff member could provide the help. This assistance could involve all students in the class or just one or a few to provide DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION.

2. Compare with ACCELERATION THROUGH CURRICULAR REDESIGN, ACCELERATION THROUGH MAINSTREAMING, DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION, EMBEDDED PEER EDUCATOR, and PEER EDUCATION.

Embedded Peer Educator Model (EPE)

1. Definition: (a) a college student PARAPROFESSIONAL who has received training for their roles to help other students learn the difficult course material; and (b) The EMBEDDED PEER EDUCATOR MODEL (EPE) plays various roles, including MENTORING, FACILITATING, and guiding students. The EPEs can assist the course instructor during the class sessions within careful boundaries that exclude grading. EPEs can provide individual TUTORING but most often work in small or large groups. A key feature of EPE Model is that the EPE and the course faculty members work as a team to plan class activities in which all students are participants. This is different from most TUTORING and out-of-class approaches such as SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION which do not require much, if any, involvement by the course faculty member.

2. Example: EPE attends the course lecture sessions and assists the students in learning.

3. Compare with EMBEDDED ACADEMIC SUPPORT, FACILITATOR, PEER EDUCATOR, and TUTOR.

Emerging Scholars Program (ESP)

1. Definition: “ Developed by Uri Treisman in 1977, this multi-ethnic honors-level program originated as the Mathematics Workshop of the Professional Development Program at the University of California at Berkeley (Triesman, 1985). It is widely disseminated across the United States as a part of first-year courses in academic departments (Examples: mathematics, physics, and chemistry) and as an academic workshop component of numerous Minority Engineering Programs. In studies of ESP in research universities—such as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Kentucky (Lexington), Rutgers University, and others—not only do ESP participants score well above the general class average, but two-thirds or more regularly earn an A or B. Common activities include structured workshops of varying difficulty developed in collaboration with the course instructor. The ESP facilitator is often a graduate student due to the knowledge needed. Close coordination between ESP program and course instructor. Other components include building a cohort community of first-year students that are academically oriented and a source of peer support; providing the cohort with an extensive orientation to the college and with ongoing academic advising; advocating the interests of the cohort and monitoring their academic progress and adjustment to the environment; providing the cohort with ongoing supplemen...