Implementation of student support programme in the B.Sc. Degree programme of the open university of Sri Lanka using the pass model

Abstract

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is a well established supplemental instruction scheme practiced in various forms in more than 1000 higher education institutions in 29 countries1. The objective of a PASS programme is to render support to students in a group setting where they share their educational experiences, problems and successes. In this process they build confidence and develop to be independent learners who excel in their courses. The group discussions are lead by one or two senior students of high academic standing who have gone through a similar study programme. The role of such a peer leader is to show how a good student learns by guiding the students in finding out solutions to subject related problems. The environment of a PASS session is deliberately made informal so that students are able to admit ignorance and misconceptions and seek information, advice and remedy, without fear of jeopardising their academic performance2. The PASS group of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at OUSL was formed in 2010 to develop a student support programme using the PASS model. The objective was to provide an opportunity for the students in the BSc (Natural Sciences) programme to develop and practice good study habits while learning the subject. It was assumed that through such a programme it will be possible to motivate the students for study, push them towards deeper learning and thereby increase the quality and quantity of the output of the BSc programme. In this communication we present the experience gained in developing and implementing such a programme.The students feed back indicates that the students who participated have benefited from the SSYM programme. However, despite the benefits only a small fraction of the students who registered in the SSYM programme regularly attended the SSYMs. The authors are of the view that the drop out can be minimised by communicating the scope and benefits of the SSYM programme to the students. Work is underway to achieve this objective during the SSYM programme in 2011/2012. Measuring the success of learning support in a systematic and scientific way is a difficult task. This is mainly because many of the perceived benefits are in fact intangible. For example, it is easy to measure academic results of students who participated in a SSYM programme, but it is much harder to identify the extent to which those results can be attributed to their participation in such a scheme. In spite of this difficulty, the authors have planned to conduct a more in depth research study during the SSYM programme in 2011/2012.