Peer Leader Resources
Find resources to support your work as a peer leader and your professional development. Get involved with this innovative program that benefits students, teachers, and their courses.
Learning Centers Peer Leader Training
The Learning Centers offer training and professional development workshops for peer leaders employed at our centers and with our partner programs and offices. All peer leaders participate in required training and have access to additional professional development opportunities and workshops.
Register for Training Workshops
You will not be able to access this community until you have been hired as a Peer Leader, which includes Learning Assistants and Peer Tutors. Please contact your supervisor if you have questions about your hiring status.
Please contact pltraining@echo.rutgers.edu if you have been hired and need access to this community.
Workshop topics include:
- Developing study skills and motivation in students
- Managing stress as a peer leader and student
- Reflecting on peer instructional skills
- Incorporating inclusive teaching practices
- And more
Each semester, peer leaders are added to the Peer Leader Training site on Canvas, where they can access additional training modules and resources to help expand their learning.
Training Requirements
Accordion Content
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Complete the New Peer Leader Orientation Asynchronous Module on Canvas and participate in a series of four synchronous in-person or online modules (A, B, C, and D).
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Complete one professional development workshop during your first semester as a peer leader. After the first semester, you must complete two workshops per semester of employment.
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Complete the Returning Peer Leader Orientation Asynchronous Module on Canvas and participate in two synchronous in-person or online modules (C and D).
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Complete two professional development workshops per semester of employment. One of these workshops must be synchronous or in-person.
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- Co-enroll in our 3-credit, 300-level pedagogy course, "Pedagogy of Peer-Led Learning," during your first semester as a new learning assistant (LA). Subsequent participation in the LA program is contingent upon successful completion of this course.
- In the pedagogy course, LAs learn to facilitate learning and engage students in scientific discourse, rather than act as experts who have knowledge that needs to be transmitted to the student. Course topics include learning theory, cooperative learning, questioning techniques, and activity design.
- Attend two 80-minute professional development workshops each semester while participating in the LA program.
- Receive feedback through observations and student surveys to help improve teaching methods.
- Join the LA program Canvas site for the current semester. Contact learningassistants@echo.rutgers.edu to join the site.
- Co-enroll in our 3-credit, 300-level pedagogy course, "Pedagogy of Peer-Led Learning," during your first semester as a new learning assistant (LA). Subsequent participation in the LA program is contingent upon successful completion of this course.
More Resources
Pedagogy of Peer-Led Learning
The Learning Centers' 3-credit, 300-level pedagogy course, "Pedagogy of Peer-Led Learning," is available to all students in peer leader positions at Rutgers and those interested in peer education.
Questions?
Please contact us with any questions about training, workshops, or the pedagogy course.
Overview
Learn how to approach your role as a peer leader in our 3-credit, 300-level course on pedagogy, exploring the effective methods and practice of college teaching and instructional strategies. In "Pedagogy of Peer-Led Learning" (01:090:322), students participate in activities designed to increase their understanding of the role of a peer educator. The instructional strategies taught in this class align with the Learning Centers' guiding principles of student-centered, active, cooperative learning environments and differentiated classroom instruction.
Through this course, students learn to:
- Work with course instructors to facilitate small-group learning among students in their lectures.
- Help teaching assistants facilitate individual and small-group student learning during recitations.
- Lead study groups or recitations, which involves designing student-centered activities and facilitating small-group learning through dialogic discourse and effective questioning techniques.
Course Topics
Learning assistants are trained to facilitate learning and engage students in scientific discourse, rather than act as experts who have knowledge that needs to be transmitted to the student. Find the syllabus for the current semester on the course Canvas site or view a past syllabus.
Topics include:
- Activity design
- Cooperative learning
- Diversity
- Learning theories
- Memory and metacognition
- Mental models and conceptual change
- Questioning techniques
Structure
This course may be taught in two formats: a 3-hour version and a hybrid with asynchronous and synchronous components. The course design models active and collaborative learning experiences for the students, who can then apply these strategies and techniques in their assigned lectures, recitations, labs, and study groups.
Constructing Knowledge
As course instructors, we do not lecture the students who enroll in this course. Rather, this course follows a "flipped classroom" design: Students are required to read discipline-based research articles, review articles, book chapters prior to class. Then, during class, students discuss the content in small groups and as a whole; participate in active, collaborative learning activities related to the content; and develop their own activities that they can utilize as study group leaders or contribute to lesson planning for recitations, labs, and lectures.
Assessment of Student Learning
Students demonstrate their understanding of course content with weekly reading quizzes and in-class activities. Students take three unit quizzes and complete two projects throughout the semester: an interview project and writing a teaching statement.
Student Requirements
This course is a requirement for learning assistants (LAs) during their first semester in the LA program, and subsequent participation is contingent upon successful completion. It is also open to peer leaders from any other Rutgers departments or programs or students interested in peer education.
The pedagogy class fulfills certain requirements in some schools at Rutgers–New Brunswick:
- School of Arts and Sciences - WCr (Revision-Based Writing and Communication Learning Goal)
- School of Environmental and Biological Sciences - Experience-Based Education Core Curriculum requirement
- Please inform your academic advisor if you are taking the pedagogy class to confirm
- School of Engineering - Upper-level humanities elective
In general, first-time LAs should check with their academic advisors and schools to find out how the pedagogy course fits into their curriculum.
For Faculty
Interested in designing a course like this, or in potentially offering such a course for the peer leaders in your program?
Student Leader Trainings
The Learning Centers offer free training programs for students working in academic leadership positions, such as tutors and study group leaders. Our training programs are founded on evidence-based practices and can be tailored to fit the needs of your staff.
We also teach a pedagogy course that is required for learning assistants and offered to all of our peer leaders. Contact us to learn more about the course.
Schedule a Training Session
We can provide training for your peer leaders (2-hour, half-day, or full-day in-person or online programs available) or they can attend our regularly scheduled professional development workshops.
To plan a training program for your peer leaders, complete our Request Support Form or call 848-445-0987 to speak with Rebecca Clapp, Assistant Director of Training and Professional Development.
Sample Training Topics
- Understanding How Students Learn
- Goals and Roles of Peer Leaders
- Effective Communication
- Professionalism
- Helping Students to Self-Advocate
- Teaching Reading Skills While Tutoring
- Using Metacognition to Maximize Your Effectiveness