Five students who participated in the award-winning Peer Led Team Learning (PTLT) project have won Queen Mary Student Enhanced Engagement and Development (SEED) Awards. The SEED awards recognise students’ contribution to educational development across Queen Mary.
Last year, Dr Xue Zhou realised that first year students typically found business analytics modules to be the most difficult to transition to on arriving at university. So, she sent an email to high achieving students who had already undertaken those modules, inviting volunteers to teach their peers in set workshops across the year. Since September, eight peer leaders have been delivering workshops to students to boost their understanding of these modules and help them achieve better results.
For both peer leaders and their students, the project has been a resounding success. As Dr Zhou says: “PLTL has proven to be a game-changer in bridging the attainment gap between BTEC and A-Level students. This year, our BTEC students demonstrated an impressive 16.7% increase in performance, with those who attended the 60% PLTL workshop outperforming their peers by 12.3%.”
As well as improving grades, the project has also built the confidence of all those who participated in it, with students and peer leaders building a learning community and forging connections between the years.
Peer leader Kartik Jolly said: “PLTL boosted my confidence… as I have gone through the process before, I understand students’ problems. I shared my experiences with them, and I feel more confident in using Excel as well”.
Feedback from students who participated in the sessions was equally as positive, with one saying: “I think the communication was much faster and I could get answers quicker. I feel easier to ask [my] PLTL leader questions, and I gained a lot of help from her.”
The students were nominated for SEED awards by Dr Zhou, who praised their commitment to the project and highlighted that five of the eight peer leaders had applied to do Business Analytics Masters because of the experience. Dr Zhou said: “It brings me great joy to see their contributions being recognized by the university, and I am confident that the SEED award will enhance their employability.”
Congratulations to BSc Business Management students and Peer Leaders Fatma Talal Abdulaziz Al-Bahrani, Juliana Louise Divina Co, Hinako Tamai, Umansh Agarwal, and Shanza Khan on their awards!
Next year, Dr Zhou will continue the project and will pilot PLTL in two further modules.