pass @ ulster

PASS @ Ulster

Joan CondellSchool of Computing &

Intelligent Systems

Melanie GilesLaura O’Neill

School of Psychology

Amanda ZacharopoulouSchool of Law

What is PASS?PASS stands for Peer Assisted Study Sessions

and is a scheme designed to help lower year students with some of the trickier aspects of their course and to assist them with the transition to university.

Specifically, its purpose is to support the student experience through collaborative discussion and involves higher year students (PASS leaders) working in pairs to facilitate regular study groups with lower year students within the context of their discipline.

Its main features: PASS is student led in that participants set the

agenda PASS is about exploratory discussion, not being

told the answers PASS is an active process and involves learning by

doing PASS is confidential and is therefore a safe place to

admit not understanding PASS is not a replacement for lectures – it is there

to back them up PASS is informal, friendly and hopefully FUN!

How does it operate? A compulsory one-day training course followed by two

discipline specific workshops for leaders. Working in pairs, leaders facilitate weekly study

sessions with groups of 10 to 15 students for one hour. Sessions are timetabled and generally targeted at difficult modules.

Sessions are student led. Focus on group facilitation techniques and associated activities during training provides leaders with the skills necessary to empower students to identify topics for discussion.

Sessions are monitored closely by the SI Supervisors. Feedback is provided during weekly debrief sessions. Involvement is accredited through the CPPD framework.

Why PASS?

Support the student experience Improve academic performance Reduce student drop-out (retention) Develop employability of PASS leaders Provides an additional mechanism for

communication and feedback between teaching staff and students

Evaluating PASSThere has been a proliferation of PASS activity within

many UK institutions and research evidence is accumulating to suggest it can have a beneficial effect, particularly in terms of academic performance. However, the focus on performance often disregards or downplays other outcomes, many of which are equally valuable and as such, more research is needed.

The aim of this project has been to evaluate PASS and explore a range of outcomes associated with 3 pilot projects operating within the University of Ulster.

Pilot Projects: Law: Introduction to Law (pre-requisite for all

other law modules undertaken) – approx. 120 students involving 14 PASS leaders

Psychology: Introduction to Psychology - approx. 120 students involving 14 PASS leaders

Maths: Second year module – approx. 20 students involving 4 PASS leaders

MethodologyBoth quantitative and qualitative methods have

been employed to address the following research questions:

What are the benefits and shortcomings of PASS from the student’s perspective?

What are the benefits and shortcomings of PASS from the leader’s perspective?

What evidence is there to suggest that PASS can enhance academic achievement?

MethodologyThe evaluation is on-going throughout each

semester in that students are encouraged to provide feedback during the weekly PASS and debrief sessions but data is being formally collected at two points in time i.e. at the beginning and end of the process.

A steering group meets on a monthly basis to monitor and review progress.

ParticipantsWithin each School, 2 groups of students have

been included: (1) PASS participants (first year students)

involving approximately 120 students in Law, 120 students in Psychology and 25 students in Computing for Intelligent Systems.

(2) PASS leaders (second year students). PASS leaders work in pairs and have been assigned to groups comprising approximately 12-15 students.

ProcedureEvaluation of PASS Participants: The participants’ perceptions of the scheme have been

assessed in two ways: Questionnaire survey administered to all participants

at the beginning and end of the process including quantitative and qualitative data. This has included psychometric measures and open-ended questions.

Focus group interviews at the beginning and towards the end of the process exploring the benefits and shortcomings in more depth. Questions included: What has been your experience of PASS this year? What are the benefits/ shortcomings?

ProcedureEvaluation of PASS Leaders: The PASS leaders’ perceptions of the scheme have

been assessed through focus group interviews and their personal reflections. Leaders have also been asked to comment more generally on a range of issues including:

What have been your experiences of PASS so far? What sorts of things is PASS good for? How have you benefited as a PASS leader?

Procedure

Evaluation of Academic Achievement: Here an examination has been carried out to

determine whether attendance at PASS correlates with the end of year marks. Comparisons have also been made with performance in previous years.

ResultsQualitative comments suggest that PASS is aiding the

transition process by allowing students to build supportive networks.

It sort of helps you make friends. You know at the start like people were really off and didn’t really talk to one another and then getting to know a small group at least and then talking out loud. There was one girl in our group who at the beginning was really shy and now she is bubbly and chattering away all the time and it is because it came out when we were in our PASS classes really. And then it helps with knowing what is going on and how you are doing and if you are stuck with anything’.

PASS Participants: ‘The people in my class all love it and it is a really

good way of getting to know people because we are part of such a big course and then if you go to PASS you get to know some people really well. I think it is really good socially and for helping with your learning as well’.

‘I think it’s a great opportunity for group work because normally after lectures everyone goes their separate ways whereas when you are in PASS it is the only time you get to spend together to talk things through with each other and see other peoples points of view’.

PASS Participants: ‘Within the last few weeks of PASS I really noticed

the great friendships that had formed between students and PASS leaders so not only did it facilitate learning but it also had a social aspect’.

It is nice to get advice that’s not from the academics. The people sitting in here know exactly what it’s like as they experienced the module last year . . . they know what aspects are difficult and what are not. They can share with you how they got through it whereas someone who is perhaps out of touch or hasn’t been sitting here as a student might not be as understanding’.

PASS Leaders:‘Results of the evaluation have also served to

highlight the benefits from the leaders’ perspective. Qualitative comments suggest that PASS not only serves to reinforce learning but is also helping to develop key employability skills.

‘As a leader I found the PASS sessions were great revision classes for myself. It also gave me valuable experience as a facilitator and as a team member, and in terms of organising myself for weekly sessions and developing my leadership skills’.

PASS Leaders: ‘When I was asked if I would be interested in

becoming a PASS leader I was quite indecisive as I was worried about talking in front of a group of people and didn’t think I would be very good at it . . .but all in all, I feel it has been a really beneficial scheme . . .it has enabled me to recap on first year topics and has given me a sense of achievement when helping others. It has also given me a great confidence boost and I now have no worries about leading a group’.

PASS Leaders: ‘‘It builds your confidence . . . it is good to keep up

because there are quite a few things you forget from the year before so you are refreshing yourself all the time as well’.

‘I think it has really helped me personally in that now I can see the lecturers like whenever our seminar teacher is telling us stuff then I can work out why they’re putting us into groups or why they’re doing things in a particular way’.

‘It improves your communication skills and it’s good for your CV’.

Academic Achievement:Performance statistics suggest the initiative has

enhanced academic performance. For example, exam marks increased as the number of PASS sessions attended increased in all modules associated with the scheme.

Comparison of exam results in Maths between participants for the 2010/2011 academic year

No. of students Mean attendance Mean Exam result


Occasional Participant

(attended 1-5 sessions)

19 1.8 59.8

Regular participant


6 10.5 83.8

All students 25 6.15 71.8

Comparison of exam results in Psychology between participants for the 2010/2011 academic year





41 3.49 62.05

Regular participant


66 7.74 73.18


Comparison of exam results in Law between participants for the 2010/2011 academic year




54 1.32 47.76

Regular participant


30 8.90 54.03


Summary of ResultsEarly indications suggest that the scheme is

already having a positive impact. As a consequence, the scheme has already been extended to Economics and there are plans for the Schools of Nursing to join the group in September 2011.

Future Directions

Informed by the feedback to date and further analysis of the data, the next stage will be to conduct a more detailed evaluation that focuses specifically on:

Student engagement and the need to more fully explore students’ motivations to engage with the learning environment and to identify the reasons why some students are reluctant to expend the ‘quality of effort’ that is required.

The development of employability skills for PASS leaders.

pass @ ulster

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