Cultivating student agency and responsibility through peer-to-peer teaching

Abstract

This case study explores an eight-semester Peer Educator Program in the Department of Anthropology at the (school blinded) to train undergraduates in teaching practices, craft spaces of partnership, and expand learning within large General Education courses. Peer Educators self-select from any major and gain knowledge on lesson planning and facilitation, working in small groups to decide content, plan, and teach bonus sessions for introductory courses. We argue that peer-to-peer teaching reworks lines of responsibility within and around classrooms such that student agency is cultivated both for students engaged in partnership activities and those taught by student partners. Peer education thus becomes a hinge around which authority is shifted and educational agency enacted in Students as Partners programs might be extended to wider student populations. Authors include two undergraduate Peer Educators and the faculty coordinator.