Student-led activities for BSL sessions
Student-led learning (or peer-assisted learning) is when students facilitate their own learning by guiding other students in (mostly) group activities to discuss materials and solve problems. While students are allowed more autonomy, they are not left alone – instead they are guided in being independent learners who are able to track their own development.
Students may be asked to ‘design’ some form of assessment (for example a quiz) based on their knowledge of a topic, and/or facilitate a group discussion with groups of peers. There may also be opportunities for student-developed content, such as allowing students to compile WINKs (‘What I Now Know’) or discipline specific glossaries during a semester.
Teaching staff will be aware that student-led classrooms tend to be noisier and more dynamic and that this can enhance enjoyment and motivation to engage with the materials and their peers. These classes may also require a room set up that includes tables for small groups (most BSL enabled rooms have this floorplan) for campus students and breakout rooms in Zoom for remote students.
How to implement this in your BSL session
Step 1: Determine the timing of the student-led activity
These activities sometimes require some set up – ideally outside the class time (see Step 2). These may include providing the brief for the activity beforehand, allowing students to prepare (you may consider a roster if you are doing this on a weekly basis).
Student-led activities can be placed anywhere in the sequence of a lesson plan depending on the type of activity you set and its purpose. For example, a student led discussion can be placed early in sequence if it refers to material from previous weeks or later in the sequence if it is used as a reflection/consolidation task. Other examples, such as collaborative Infographic posters, can be activities that run throughout the course of the entire sequence.
Step 2: Prepare the activity prior to the BSL session
Students may not be familiar with putting themselves in a facilitator’s role or may be apprehensive about doing so. To allow student to prepare, it is recommended that a brief for the activity is given beforehand – this can be shared in the LMS for all student to access.
A brief should contain clear instructions on what is expected, and the steps needed to complete the activity. For BSL sessions, it is recommended that you provide instructions for both campus and remote students which may include the online tools to be used.
It will also be critical to set up any online tools that may be needed for the activity. Instructors can determine the tool needed provided students declare their intentions eg. If a students would like to have peers sharing thoughts on a Padlet to drive the discussion.
Step 3: Guide from the side
In principle, student-led learning places the instructor to the side of the activity – the student(s) are in this instance at the head of the class. In this dynamic, the instructor's role is to encourage and accept student autonomy and create a comfortable atmosphere for student expression, acting as guides for their students. Another way of seeing this is the instructor as a partner of students who were pursuing agency. Guidance from the side can include further inquiry prompts, affirmation and encouragement.
Step 4: Facilitate feedback
Feedback in student-led activities should be encouraged to come from all participants – students and instructors. You may prefer to resist giving feedback first, allowing peers to lead a feedback circle and simply equally participate in this process.
Suggested student-led activities
Student-generated quiz
Students individually or in pairs/small groups come up with a quiz question relevant to the week/topic, to demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts.
Student-led discussion
Students lead a small group discussion relevant to the week/topic, to demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts and practice facilitation skills.
Infographic poster
Students individually or groups create an infographic poster summarising the concepts or a project.
How to provide feedback
Giving students agency over their learning experience is at the heart of student-led learning so instructors should, where possible, provide feedback that encourages further enquiry and, when there is a need to correct a statement or an incorrect reference to learning materials, the intervention can take the form of questioning this further until there is consensus over what is correct.
Asynchronous alternatives
Student generated WINK or resource bank
Students create a knowledge base of relevant resources, e.g. Graduate industry resources or a 'What I Now Know' list of tips for future students.
Student generated glossary or FAQ
Ask students to contribute key questions or devise definitions to key terms used in the subject either individually or in small groups, then come to consensus. Responses can form a shared document or wiki and used for future cohorts.
Support and resources
- Learning, Leading, and Letting Go of Control: Learner-Led Approaches in Education
- 9 Inspiring Student-Led Formative Assessment Activities
Pedagogical tags
student led learning peer assisted learning learner led activities
This page was last updated on 04 Feb 2022.
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