Assessing Peer Leader Skill Acquisition and Group Dynamics in a First-Year Calculus Course

Abstract

Peer-led team learning (PLTL), specifically the model known as ‘Workshops’, has been shown to contribute positively and significantly to student success in STEM courses across subjects (Gosser et al., 2001). Our research adds to the SOTL literature describing the effectiveness of Workshops by reporting on the changes in student leaders. We examine the level to which leaders acquired new skills in effective teaching and describe the pedagogical interactions in the groups they led as a result of the combination of training and experience facilitating first-year Calculus Workshop sections. This was a semester-long study on twenty-two Workshop leaders for two multi-section, introductory calculus courses at a small research university. Our method is a novel overlay of two metrics that allows, with some forethought, a robust analysis of Workshop leader outcomes that would complement any assessment of PLTL implementation faculty might choose to undertake.