Peer-Assisted Learning Programme: Supporting Students in High-Risk Subjects at the Mechanical Engineering Department at Walter Sisulu University

Abstract

The majority of the students who enroll at the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Education and Training (2013, p. 17), further states that "students' support is crucial to ensure that students adapt to the demands of college life and that they can meet the demands of college programmes". Particularly in South Africa, the school environment might also contribute to poor student performance as a result of insufficient student support, and a lack of facilities and resources. In order to address this gap, a Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) programme was implemented to provide support targeting high-risk subjects for at-risk students in Mechanical Engineering at WSU.The programme therefore is pro-active and student-driven in that senior students assist junior students with their academic work and learning processes. The programme is designed to encourage collaborative and cooperative learning approaches during group sessions and active student engagement to support student learning (Laal & Laal, 2012

Tutor and tutee experiences of same-year/level peer-assisted learning in health sciences’ extended curriculum programmes

“…The SPAL sessions supported ECP participants beyond an academic level, as interviewees claimed that the formation of this camaraderie also addressed their transitional challenges. This finding is important as the pre-established outcomes and objectives of SPAL sessions are mostly focused on addressing academic challenges, whereas CPAL can accommodate wider-focused outcomes such as addressing social, pastoral and transitional matters (Makala, 2017). Furthermore, findings from this study imply that SPAL and its related activities could also support adapting to tertiary education and not merely only address academic and retention challenges.…”

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“…In recent years, there have been lots of researchers evaluating their learning performances in various disciplines, such as medical study (Burgess, McGregor, & Mellis, 2014;Herrmann-Werner et al, 2017), nursing study (McLelland, McKenna, & French, 2013;Williams, Olaussen, & Peterson, 2015;Williams & Reddy, 2016), radiography (Meertens, 2016), biology (Rayner & Papakonstantinou, 2018), geography (West, Jenkins, & Hill, 2017), mathematics (Duah, Croft, & Inglis, 2014), accounting (Marrone & Draganov, 2016;Sudhakar, Tyler, & Wakefield, 2016;Supple, Best, & Pearce, 2016), mechanical engineering (Qonda, 2017) and other challenging subjects of undergraduate programmes. However, not many longitudinal studies have been conducted on the subjects in business disciplines with Peer Assisted Learning support.…”

'We teach them to be university students’ The role of peer educators in the provision of ontological access to higher education

“…Peer support 'helps students to realize and envision their self-identity as STEM [i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics] scholars with the potential to offer meaningful contributions to their disciplines' (Wilson et al, 2012: 154). Peer support has been identified as playing an even stronger role when the students are from underrepresented groups in technical and vocational fields (Bell et al, 2012;Holmegaard, Madsen and Ulriksen, 2014;Makala, 2017;Soldner, Rowan-Kenyon, Inkelas, Garvey and Robbins, 2012). Studies have found that tutors and other student assistants are most effective when they are from similar backgrounds as the students whom they support (Espinosa, 2011), for example, under-represented students in STEM disciplines and fields felt 'validated within a community that affirmed their presence and abilities to succeed in fields they select[ed]' (Palmer, Maramba and Dancy, 2011: 501).…”