Peer-Led Team Learning: Evaluation, Dissemination, and Institutionalization of a College Level Initiative: (16 Innovations in Science Education and Technology)

There seems to be no end to the flood of conferences, workshops, panel discussions, reports and research studies calling for change in the introductory science courses in our colleges and universities. But, there comes a time to move from criticism to action. In 1993, the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation called for proposals for systemic initiatives to change the way int- ductory chemistry is taught. One of the five awards was to design, develop and implement the peer-led Workshop, a new structure to help students learn science. This book is a study of 15 years of work by the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) project, a national consortium of faculty, learning specialists and students. The authors have been in the thick of the action as project evaluator (Gafney) and co-principle investigator (Varma-Nelson). Readers of this book will find a story of successful change in educational practice, a story that continues today as new institutions, faculty, and disciplines adopt the PLTL model. They will learn the model in theory and in practice and the supporting data that encourage others to adopt and adapt PLTL to new sit- tions. Although the project has long since lost count of the number of implem- tations of the model, conservative estimates are that more than 100 community and four year colleges and a range of universities have adopted the PLTL model to advance student learning for more than 20,000 students in a variety of STEM disciplines.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Educational reform at the college level and overview of the project. Chapter 1: Plan and Context of the Study. This chapter first describes Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) and the use of problem-solving workshops as an integral part of a science course. The research questions and methodology for the entire study are presented. The adoption of workshops is discussed in the context of educational reform. Chapter 2: Development and Implementation of Peer-Led Team Learning. The six critical components that form the PLTL model are explained. The experiences of students and workshop leaders are presented as captured in surveys, interviews, and site visits. The results of numerous comparative studies of student performance are presented. The use of the critical components in evaluation is explained with examples. Chapter 3: Dissemination of Peer-Led Team Learning. The dissemination plan of PLTL is explained. Dissemination is then analyzed in part using Everett M. Rogers ideas and categories. The chapter also discusses issues rooted in the role of the college professor, and factors involving comfort with or resistance to change. Chapter 4: Adopting Peer-Led Team Learning and the Limits of Adaptability. Adoption of the method is studied based on an analysis of 70 mini grants. These grants of $5000, matched by the institution, enabled professors to adopt PLTL. Site visits and interviews generated additional data and insights about issues in adopting and adapting the method. Chapter 5: Sustainability. Based on surveys, interviews, site visits, and a phone survey of administrators, hypotheses are developed about criteria for judging sustainability. These hypotheses are further reviewed and tested using an on-line survey of faculty adopters. Chapter 6: Study of FormerLeaders. With more than 10 years of history, an on-line survey was used to gather data about the impact of leading workshops on the leaders’ futurestudies and early career experiences. The analysis, based on 119 respondents, reveals a variety of benefits as the leaders reflect on PLTL experiences. Chapter 7: Impact of the PLTL on Minority Students. The history of efforts to support and encourage under-represented minority students in the sciences is described. Data on the impact of PLTL is presented. General principles for successful academic support are explored. Chapter 8: The Goals of Higher Education and New Paradigms. PLTL as a teaching/learning initiative is discussed in the institutional setting of higher education and from the perspective of current pedagogical theory and practice. Chapter 9: Summary and Issues. This chapter reviews the more significant issues in the three areas of implementation, dissemination, and institutionalization. Special attention is paid to team learning, faculty involvement in educational initiatives, and stages in dissemination. Requirements and obstacles to institutionalization are discussed. References Appendix: Evaluation data in the text: location of tables and summaries.

Review :
From the reviews: This book is a must read for anyone writing their first proposal for NSF's TUES (formerly CCLI) program! Overall, I believe that this book will become an important resource for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty because Gafney and Varma-Nelson offer insight in addition to knowledge they have gained. Most importantly, this book should have broad appeal because the authors are able to get their points across with clarity and rigor without getting bogged down with too much jargon. Gautam Bhattacharyya teaches Chemistry at Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA “The authors’ focus is to describe the mechanics of developing an initiative locally, expanding it to a national level, and evaluating its impacts on multiple sets of stakeholders. … the goal of this book is to offer a ‘big picture’ account; thus, readers must consult individual papers to get details of the studies. … Overall, I believe that this book will become an important resource for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty … .” (Gautam Bhattacharyya, Journal of Chemical Education, December, 2010)