Peer sharing presentations in a first-year engineering learning strategies course

Abstract

This Complete Evidence-Based Practice paper details the use of peer sharing presentations in a learning strategies course designed for first-year engineering students. The learning strategies course is a component of the General Engineering Learning Community at Clemson University, with the ultimate goal of increasing the retention of engineering students entering the university with underprepared calculus skills [1], [2]. Two secondary goals of the program that feed into the first include providing academic support through on-campus resources and constructing a community of learners. The learning strategies course promotes program goals by equipping students with effective personal and professional skills related to self-regulatory behaviors, learning strategies, and habits of mind, while simultaneously building their awareness of available academic resources. Peer sharing presentations, the instructional practice that is the focus on this paper, allow students to become familiar with a number of personal and professional strategies for success within the structure of the learning strategies course. The goal of the peer sharing presentations is to provide students with the opportunity to explore evidence-based practices and share their findings with peers. The peer sharing presentation process includes students selecting a strategy, learning about the selected strategy, creating a set of informative and engaging slides, presenting their findings to peers, and reflecting on their peers' presentations. Through this process, the peer sharing presentations are an innovative way for students to engage as active learners in the collaborative construction of new knowledge. The effectiveness of peer sharing presentations as a course activity is evaluated through an exploratory qualitative approach. Through the analysis of student-created slides and student reflections on their peers' presentations, it was determined that students experienced growth across self-regulatory, social, and academic outcomes. After an extended exploration into and discussion of these results, we provide implications for practitioners interested in utilizing an instructional technique similar to the peer sharing presentations.