Cyber Peer Led Team Learning (cPLTL)
Taking the Classroom Experience Online
Randy Newbrough & Pratibha Varma-Nelson
Sloan-C 5th Annual International Symposium
Emerging Technologies for Online Learning
July 26, 2012
Overview
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What is PLTL?
Critical Components for Successful PLTL Programs
National Dissemination and Impact of PLTL
IUPUI’s PLTL Workshops
New Frontiers with Cyber PLTL (cPLTL)
Preliminary Findings on cPLTL’s Effectiveness
Future Directions for cPLTL Research
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Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL)
Peer: A more experienced undergraduate student who has
recently completed the course with a good grade.
Led: Refers to leadership. A leader is a guide to others. Goes
through extensive training to assume this role.
Team: A group of 6-8 people who work together to achieve a
common goal.
Learning: The goal of the team is to learn chemistry.
Course
• 2 - 3 hours of lecture per week
• 1.5 - 2 hours of PLTL workshop per week
• 3 hour lab facilitated by faculty and/or a TA
What is a PLTL Workshop?
• 6-8 students
• Materials with problems slightly above the level of standard
end-of-chapter questions and specifically designed for group
work.
• A well-trained leader
• Compliment to the lecture
Gosser, D.K., M.S. Cracolice, J.A. Kampmeier, V. Roth, V. Strozak, and P. Varma-Nelson 2001 The
Workshop Model: Peer Leadership and Learning. A Guidebook. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
3 Types of PLTL Implementations
PLTL workshop
• replaces part of a lecture
• replaces a TA led recitation
• is an added component to the course
Critical Components for a Successful
Workshop Program
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Integral part of the course
Challenging materials (no answer keys)
Trained and closely supervised leaders
Supportive faculty
Appropriate physical arrangement
Supportive Administration
Gafney “Evaluation of PLTL, Peer-Led Team Learning: A Guidebook. Eds Gosser, D.,
Cracolice, M., Kampmeier, J., Roth, V., Strozak, V., Varma-Nelson, P. (2001).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Non-PLTL vs. PLTL
City College of New York, (1-2), St. Xavier Chicago, (3), U. of Pittsburgh (4), Penn State Schuykill, (5), U. of Kentucky (6), U. of Ohio
Athens (7), U. of Miami Ohio (8), U. of Rochester, Org (9), U. of West Georgia (10),
and NYC Technical (11).
12-15 (Independent studies)
Blue = Non PLTL
Red = PLTL
Student Breakdown
Tien, Roth, Kampmeier J. Res. Sci. Teaching (2002) U. Rochester Organic Chemistry
Blue = Non PLTL
Red = PLTL
Impact of PLTL on Students at IUPUI
C105 DFW: Fall Semesters
60
Percent Withdrawal
50
40
30
20
No Workshop
10
Workshop
0
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
Year
2004
2006
2008
2008
Disciplines Using PLTL
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General Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Biochemistry
Biology
Psychology
Mathematics
Computer Science
Next Step: Moving Online
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cPLTL
Replicate F2F workshop experience
Partner Institutions
Scalability
cPLTL Research Group
In the beginning…
Main Room
Group Room
Students Concerns
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Xournal (third party software) caused crashes
Stopped saving information/lost information
Network failures
Wireless connection caused problems
People talking at the same time-maybe more a
problem with audio delay
• Sometimes difficult to hear
• White board (from Adobe Connect) was sometimes
a problem
Present setup…
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Orientation & Equipment Distribution
cPLTL Leader Training
Student View of Workshop
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cPLTL with Document Camera
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Activities in PLTL Workshops
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Brainstorming
Round robin
Problem Solving in pairs
Subgroups
Concept maps
Reflecting on problem solving
Reflecting in change of understanding
Using molecular models
Why cyber PLTL (cPLTL)?
Untapped opportunities
• HS-University
• Community College-University
• Non-traditional and working students
• Allows new ways to capture data for discourse
analysis and do research on how students learn in
this environment
• Understand leader styles-useful for peer leader
training
Leader quotes
“The model is the same, but the way it is done is
different; online you can’t pick up on body language
cues like you can in face-to-face. Face-to-face also
provides a better gauge of exactly what’s going on
because you can see more what the students are
doing. Students are a lot more willing to write
things down in face-to-face, but think more deeply
about what they write in cPLTL.”
Leader quotes
“The same amount gets accomplished, but differently;
cPLTL gets fewer problems done but more in depth.
cPLTL requires choosing which problems are more
attainable. Both an advantage and disadvantage of
cPLTL is students having to walk other students
through their work rather than just show them.”
Leader quotes
• “Running a cPLTL workshop is initially draining and
nerve wracking because of all the voices and it’s
hard to pick out what each person is saying.” [Not
much of a problem now-addressed in training]
• “cPLTL is a success. This last week I had a student in
Florida…attend my class without any problem.
[S]uccess! I was actually pretty amazed that it went
off without a hitch.”
Students Comments
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“Communicated effectively with other students”
Convenience
No commuting
Liked being able to share work
Easier to communicate
Leader most positive aspect
ACS First Semester General Chemistry Exam
No statistically significant difference in ACS Scores
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Across 5 Semesters
61.49
62.79
PLTL
(n = 121)
cPLTL
(n = 111)
Percentage Correct
32
Mean Grades
No statistically significant difference in mean grades
(n = 121)
(n = 111)
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End-of-Course Grades
No statistically significant difference in course grades
Across 5 Semesters
(n = 121)
(n
= 111)
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Advantages of cPLTL
• Referred to information in the lecture, electronic
course notes and materials posted in Oncourse
• Used internet easily to access resources to define,
support and refute conclusions
• Easily shared their work and resources with the
entire group
• Used other interactive tools such as Skype to report
problems
• Talking more about content online
Next Step: Partnering and Expansion
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Florida International University
Purdue University
Expansion of cPLTL sections at IUPUI
Conducted 1st cPLTL National Adoption Workshop
Partners
Nancy Pelaez
Biology, Purdue University
Spring 2012
Blackboard and Adobe Connect
Thomas Pitzer
Biology, Florida International University
Fall 2011
Moodle and Adobe Connect
Current Status
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Finished the sixth semester at IUPUI
329 students have participated
25 leaders have led cPLTL workshops
24 General Chemistry sections at IUPUI
10 Biology sections at Purdue University
16 Biology sections at Florida International
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cPLTL Project Team
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cPLTL Interdisciplinary Research Group
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John Sours, Undergraduate, Chemistry
Kevin Mauser, Graduate student, BME
Gina Ammerman, Graduate Student, Chemistry
Juliana Banks, Postdoc
Lin Zhu, Lecturer, Chemistry
Lorie Shuck, IT Staff, CTL
Tom Janke, IT Staff, CTL
Randy Newbrough, IT Staff, CTL
Joshua Smith, Associate Prof, Education
Donald Wink, Evaluator
Pratibha Varma-Nelson, PI
Acknowledgments
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Peer Leaders
PLTL Project Partners
NSF-DUE-0941978
NGLC Wave I
pvn@iupui.edu
Questions?