Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) is an active learning pedagogy that takes a workshop-based approach to student learning.
PLTL was pioneered by Professor David Gosser at the City College of New York. The approach was developed to improve student success rates. Students who had previously done well on a course or module are recruited to become peer leaders. They meet with small groups of students, usually 8-12, on a weekly basis to facilitate discussions and engage in problem solving related to the course material. Educators who have adopted PLTL have observed significant positive effects on student outcomes and self-efficacy.
The use of Small Active Learning Groups is one of the five interrelated components of Queen Mary’s Education Approach – the Active Curriculum for Excellence (ACE). PLTL is one of the approaches being used to deliver this.
At Queen Mary, we run PLTL workshops in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences and the School of Business and Management. Since 2021/22, we have recruited and trained over 200 peer leaders and over 1,500 students have taken part in PLTL workshops across 8 modules.
Queen Mary University of London is a proud member of the Peer-Led Team Learning International Society.
Resources and case studies will be made available on this page.
Join our Community of Practice to connect with educators using PLTL in their modules, to share best practice and for updates from the Advisory Group.
The PLTL Advisory Group is a cross-faculty team which has strategic oversight of the delivery and expansion of PLTL at Queen Mary.
Co-creation of Peer Led Team Learning training material for Peer Leaders