Literature Review


Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education       ISSN: 1759-667X 

Special Edition: Academic Peer Learning, Part Two April 2016 

 

Editorial 
 

 

This is the second part of a Special Edition of the JLDHE focussing on academic peer 

learning. This issue includes a further ten articles (five papers and five case studies) 

exploring a wide range of features associated with peer learning in higher education, 

including issues of culture, communication, community and employability, as well as 

academic learning. This collection offers insights into subject-specific as well as more 

general approaches, and covers varying contexts, including online environments. 

 

In a subject-specific study, Jill Barber and Sadaf Ilias describe their use of peer assisted 

learning to raise students’ awareness of the problem of antibiotic resistance. Illustrating the 

efficiency and effectiveness of the approach, they describe how peer assisted learning 

successfully cascaded knowledge from a single fourth year student to 21 second year 

students, and then to over 700 students from various disciplines and year groups. 

 

Sigrun Wagner explains how peer feedback was implemented to facilitate a shift from 

assessment of learning to assessment for learning. This shift has been very successful 

with demonstrable improvements reported in engagement and performance.   

 

Claire Cornock’s paper reports on the value undergraduate students place on a well-

established Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme in Mathematics. The PAL programme 

matches small groups of first year students with final year students, with the aim of easing 

transition in the early stages of degree level study through supporting the development of 

a Maths learning community and through enabling transfer of academic skills. While the 

findings of the study are mixed, clear benefits of the scheme include the prevalence of 

sustainable peer learning groups, and the high value the third year PAL leaders place on 

the guidance of academic staff.  

 

The notion of learning community also features in Lucy Chilvers’ paper, which evaluates 

the contribution of Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) to supporting international 

students in making the adjustment to learning within Higher Education (HE). The paper 

draws on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) social-learning model, Communities of Practice (CoP) 



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Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Edition Part Two: April 2016  2 

and explores the data through the themes of community, practice and participation. It 

explores the extent to which PASS can contribute to support international students in, for 

example, adjusting to cultural norms, learning academic-specific and discipline-specific 

languages and practices; and motivating participation and independent study. 

 

The idea of ‘learner communities of practice’ also underpins the Student Academic 

Mentoring project that is the subject of an interpretivist qualitative case study by Gillian 

Pye, Susan Williams and Linda Dunne. Second year undergraduate students on an 

education programme acted as mentors to first years on the same programme. A ‘tripartite 

structure’ was used with individual, small group and in-class mentoring.  The authors 

report notable benefits in terms of student engagement, belonging and developing a 

community of practice.  

  

Jannike Hille, Gundula Hiller and Stefanie Vogler-Lipp explore the positive impact that the 

peer tutor training delivered at the European University of Viadrina has had on peer tutors’ 

intercultural learning progress. By encouraging peer tutors to reflect on their own and 

others’ teaching and learning practices, the study has found that the specialised training 

offered by Viadrina Peer Tutoring has been highly successful in developing a range of 

intercultural competencies, including empathy and respect for otherness and 

communicative awareness. 

 

Eleanor Quince and Charlotte Medland also address the role of peer mentoring in 

supporting the transition to Higher Education.  Their case study explains the development 

and initial evaluation of a student-led pilot rolled out across an entire Humanities faculty.  

The use of social media, particularly Facebook, was central to the success of this project.  

As the authors note, ‘Harnessing familiar social media networks to link new and current 

students gives both parties the confidence to interact with their peers, and gave mentees 

an additional support option outside of their face-to-face meetings’ (p. 12). 

 

The importance of such competence and developing community is particularly relevant 

and presents particular challenges in online environments. Sharon Boyd and Jessie 

Paterson present an evaluation of their online, distance-learning, postgraduate peer tutor 

project which has two core aims: first, to develop student academic skills in group 

facilitation and learning support; second, to enhance support for their increasing numbers 

of online, distance-learning students. Feedback from staff, peer tutors and the students 



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Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Edition Part Two: April 2016  3 

involved suggested that fostered a real sense of community for all the different sets of 

participants. 

 

The qualitative findings from Jill Andreanoff’s mixed method study support the premise that 

undergraduate students perceive peer coaching as improving their academic performance, 

confidence and motivation. This was also tested quantitatively pre- and post-coaching 

using the Sander and Sanders (2009) Academic Behaviour Confidence Scale. These data 

suggested significant increases in academic confidence which, in turn, can positively affect 

academic performance. Her study supports the use of peer coaching in universities – 

particularly at first year level – as a means of improving student success and retention, 

through increased confidence, motivation and practical and emotional support. 

 

In their piece ‘The benefits of peer mentoring’, Melanie Giles, Amanda Zacharopoulou and 

Joan Condell explore the application of Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) in a UK 

higher education context. PASS is a long running and internationally renowned form of 

peer learning which is well-established in America and Australia. It involves trained higher 

year students (PASS leaders) working in pairs to facilitate regular study groups with 

students in the year below. Both sets of participants benefit from the experience which 

enhances learning development for the recipients and employability skills for the 

developers. 

 

We hope that readers will enjoy this second part of our special edition on academic peer 

learning as much as the first. Once again we wish to thank Marcia Ody and Melanie Giles 

who acted as guest editors, and all the authors of these papers. 

 

Helen Bowstead; Sue Eccles; Amanda French; Lucy Gray; Andy Hagyard; John Hilsdon; 

Christina Howell-Richardson; Moira Maguire 


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