Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching — 2007

Award for Programs that Enhance Learning — The First-Year Experience — Recipient

Supporting first year learning through Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)
The University of Queensland, Queensland

Synopsis

The PASS program aims to improve the quality of learning for first year students, irrespective of academic ability, background knowledge or cultural heritage. PASS is a voluntary, student-centred and student-directed study program with a focus on providing self- and peer-formative assessment and immediate feedback within an interactive and collaborative learning environment. Study sessions are offered throughout the semester by a pair of high achieving second- or third-year students who facilitate and model effective study and problem-solving strategies. The distinguishing feature of PASS from other peer-assisted learning programs is its full integration with the academic unit offering the course, allowing optimal alignment of sessions with course goals and assessment. Regular attendance at PASS is associated with stronger academic outcomes, lower attrition rates and higher recruitment of students to later years of related discipline areas. PASS participants experience greater satisfaction with their educational endeavours by this personalised and social constructivist approach to higher education. Feedback from students who attend PASS sessions is consistently positive and their support for the program has resulted in its continued expansion. PASS has become a model nationally and internationally, with coordinators assisting other universities to implement the program as a supplementary learning module to their courses.