An Authentic Peer-Led Team Learning Program for Community Colleges: A Recruitment, Retention, and Completion Instrument for Face-to-Face and Online Modality

Abstract

The Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) teaching model has been widely applied in several four-year institutions in STEM areas, including Computer Science. Although only a few two-year colleges have adopted similar teaching models, the number of contact hours and interaction between peer leaders and students are limited, and the implementation of an authentic PLTL model is constrained by students' schedules and location accommodation. The propelled migration from face-to-face to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced dissemination and implementation of such model alternative. The PLTL model was implemented for the fundamentals of Computer Science, i.e., CS 1, 2, and 3, where peer leaders learned pedagogical techniques, designed, implemented, and proctored programming activities for the three courses online. In this paper, we report the experience of the PLTL model applied to a computer science program in a community college. Experience includes the peer leaders' growth in disseminating material to their peers and how this model measures course performance, recruitment, retention, and completion.