ABSTRACT

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) involves a student peer providing some form of support to a student mentee, usually participating at an earlier point in the same programme of study. PAL has been shown to have benefits for on-campus students. However, differences in on-campus and online programme delivery make it difficult to generalise these benefits to fully online distance learners (ODL). Of concern to providers of these types of programmes in higher education, are reports of increased student isolation, reduced motivation and early drop-out from their studies. Thus, providing PAL through an online environment may be one way to reduce these concerns. A systematic review of the published literature was performed to identify evidence of the potential benefits of formalised peer-assisted learning for students enrolled on a fully online, distance learning programme in higher education. A recognised methodology was used to search for relevant literature, and to synthesise results. Of the initial 2,225 individual studies identified from the search, only four met the full inclusion criteria for this review. The results of the four studies were inconclusive; differences between types of academic programmes, the design of the peer-support and the way in which they had been examined and reported were found. As a result, there was little more than a suggestion that in higher education, formal online peer-support might benefit fully online distance learners in some way.

摘要

同伴辅助学习 (PAL) 涉及学生同伴向学生学员提供某种形式的支持，通常在较早的时候参与同一学习计划。PAL 已被证明对在校学生有好处。然而，校园和在线课程交付的差异使得很难将这些好处推广到完全在线的远程学习者 (ODL)。高等教育中这类课程的提供者担心的是学生孤立增加、动力降低和过早辍学的报告。因此，通过在线环境提供 PAL 可能是减少这些问题的一种方式。对已发表的文献进行了系统回顾，以确定正式的同伴辅助学习对完全在线注册的学生的潜在好处的证据，高等教育中的远程学习计划。使用公认的方法来搜索相关文献并综合结果。在从搜索中确定的最初 2,225 项研究中，只有 4 项符合本次审查的全部纳入标准。这四项研究的结果没有定论；发现了学术课程类型、同伴支持的设计以及审查和报告方式之间的差异。结果，只有一个建议，即在高等教育中，正式的在线同伴支持可能会以某种方式使在线远程学习者完全受益。只有四个符合本次审查的全部纳入标准。这四项研究的结果没有定论；发现了学术课程类型、同伴支持的设计以及审查和报告方式之间的差异。结果，只有一个建议，即在高等教育中，正式的在线同伴支持可能会以某种方式使在线远程学习者完全受益。只有四个符合本次审查的全部纳入标准。这四项研究的结果没有定论；发现了学术课程类型、同伴支持的设计以及审查和报告方式之间的差异。结果，只有一个建议，即在高等教育中，正式的在线同伴支持可能会以某种方式使在线远程学习者完全受益。