Peer tutoring: Strengthening students' development and confidence

Lecturer:
Joanne Kinniburgh

Faculty:
DAB

Project:
Peer-Tutoring in Architecture: A sustainable model for creative disciplines

Keywords:
Architecture, peer-tutoring, peer assisted learning, training, feedback, mentoring, U:PASS

Reflective of the Learning2014 ethos, the peer-tutoring in Architecture (PTA) program is being further expanded and formalised to incorporate peer-tutor feedback, development and mentor training.

What the project is about 

The peer-tutoring program is a successful and established technique in the undergraduate Architecture and Design course to improve students' understanding and response to feedback. In light of the program's success, and to further improve it, Ms Kinniburgh is evaluating and updating the student peer-tutors’ support, training and mentoring.

Why the project is being introduced

Some Architecture and Design students were struggling with being required to rapidly master a diverse skill set, cope with heavy workloads and deal with confrontational formative feedback.

To address these issues, the PTA program is modeled to:

• Engage students in a culture of peer critique, where they learn from criticism instead of feeling judged by it
• Encourage students’ active learning as well as critical and creative thinking skills
• Provide technical assistance and role models
• Improve retention rates and students’ perceptions of institutional belonging

As well as helping students in the classroom, the program also develops students' skills for a global workplace, as peer-tutoring facilitates interaction with, and support for, students from diverse backgrounds. This enables peer-tutors and students to develop skills for negotiating diverse relationships. This aspect of the program has been seen to improve international students' retention and satisfaction with the course.

How the project is being implemented

In a learning-through-teaching framework, selected exemplary senior students are trained to act as peer-tutors to junior students in the design studio on a regular basis, supporting them in specific critical aspects of the studio culture. There are 80 volunteer peer-tutors in 43 tutorial classes supporting 280 students in their core design subjects.
 

Peer tutors follow two mandates in helping students. These are:

1. To engage the students in a culture of critique amongst their peers, enabling them to start learning from criticism instead of feeling judged by it
2. To elevate the level of support for student learning, particularly with respect to architectural skillset mastery, including design communications and mastery of software techniques.

The peer-tutors work in collaborative groups, determining what skills and training they feel would benefit them and the program. These include:

• Making in-house videos to demonstrate effective strategies for coping with difficult situations in the classroom and effective techniques for facilitation of critique
• Training in the use of new technologies such as the new architecture interactive whiteboards 
• Using online social media sites such as Facebook as a site for professional development and feedback systems.

Challenges and considerations

PTA addresses all of the architecture graduate attributes with one exception: written communication skills. This is being addressed by embedding feedback mechanisms, likely to contain written components.

Exploring further
Kinniburgh, J. The Architectural Design Studio, Graduate Attribute Development and Peer-Tutoring.
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What is U:Pass and what it offers
Watch...
Falchikov, N. (2001). Learning together: Peer tutoring in higher education. RoutledgeFalmer, Abingdon, Oxon, UK.
Read...

Delving even deeper
Brew, A. (2012). Teaching and Research: New relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education. Research & Development, Volume 31, Issue 1
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