Credited Peer-Led Team-Learning and Undergraduate Student Success

Abstract

This study examined effects of credited peer-led discussion courses on undergraduate student success. The discussion courses, led by near-peers (i.e., other undergraduate students who recently completed the lecture course successfully), supplemented larger lecture courses and incorporated collaborative learning design elements. The study examined student success through a mixed-methods approach to academic performance, persistence, and personal growth. It found that discussion participants academically outperformed non-participants, and found more persistence for participants as compared to non-participants. Non-graded final reflection writings for discussion participants found eleven themes: Engaging in learning; enhancing personal accountability; developing transferrable skills; developing social capital; self-discovery; developing self-efficacy; expanding content knowledge or understanding; increasing interest in content; benefiting from interactions with a more knowledgeable peer; lowering affective filters; and learning collaboratively. This study made five key findings: discussion course participation was associated with increased parent-course performance (p = .012); direct peers learned from each other; participation in the discussion course resulted in transferrable skills development; discussion participation increased student accountability; and peer-led discussions lowered student affective filters. This study has implications for college administrators, curriculum designers, and faculty who are developing innovative approaches for promoting post-secondary student success.