About PAL

Peer Assisted Learning - PAL - is an academic study scheme offered in modules that are known to be difficult and where students struggle to gain good results or understanding of tough concepts.

In academic PAL sessions, students are guided through course concepts by their PAL Leader, a competent student who has been trained in group-facilitation techniques.

Find out if PAL runs in your modules!

What happens in a PAL session?

During a PAL session, you may expect:

Pal Leaders support students through group and individual discussion, incorporated study skills, and engaging activities.
The material of each session will be agreed upon by the students and PAL Leaders based on what students want to review, improve, or understand better
Students bring lecture notes, hand-outs, and textbooks to refer to in the session.
PAL Leaders do not teach but they do help with problem-solving, study skills, exam techniques, coursework and assignments, and presentations.
PAL Leaders are students who have already completed and done well in the module and so can give the best advice

What is PAL?

PAL is:

A global model: PAL runs at many Universities across the USA, Europe, Australasia and the UK.
Peer Assisted Learning is a scheme which tends to improve student retention, grades and performance for those who attend regularly.
It is particularly effective when aligned with content or modules deemed conceptually difficult.
Students in the higher years of specific programmes - PAL Leaders - are recruited and trained to facilitate weekly study support sessions for students in the lower years.
PAL sessions offer a safe and friendly place to help students improve study skills and to deepen their understanding of the course subject.
PAL Leaders structure the sessions based on material covered in lectures and seminars, and will also plan their sessions around students' particular requests.