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The Academic Achievement Center is committed to supporting all µÛÍõ»áËù students—whether they're on the Athens campus, at any of the Regional Higher Education campuses, or enrolled through OHIO Online. We value the expertise and insights faculty bring to student success, and we're eager to collaborate to ensure our services align with the academic needs of your courses. Together, we can enhance student learning by encouraging students to make the most of our diverse support programs or by developing new, innovative services that address any emerging needs. Let’s work together to help our students succeed, both in and out of the classroom.

Syllabus Statements

Faculty, please feel free to include the following text or texts in your syllabus.

Peer Assisted Learning

I’ve been asked to include Peer Assisted Learning with my class. What does that mean for me? 

Collaboration between the PAL leader and instructor is important and allows Peer Assisted Learning to attain its highest potential effectiveness for our students. The time commitment for instructors is minimal, usually less than 30 minutes a week.  Instructor responsibilities are simply to communicate with the PAL Leader, provide resources as needed and endorse.   Instructors are not expected to prepare materials or attend the PAL Sessions.  More information about what can be expected from an instructor in a PAL partnership is as follows: 

Communication

PAL leaders sit in on class (as their schedule allows) and are encouraged to communicate on a weekly basis with instructors.  It is up to the Instructor and the PAL Leader whether these communications happen in meetings or via email – it is whatever works best for the instructor. If the instructor prefers meetings, they can be scheduled during office hours, or at a time that works for both the instructor and PAL leader. PAL leaders will keep the instructor appraised of what is happening in the sessions, inform on questions students are asking about, point out areas where the students are struggling, discuss the level of class participation, and offer advance review of session materials and study guides. 

Resources

Instructors are asked and encouraged to share resources with PAL leaders at their discretion.  Examples of resources are syllabus, handouts, practice tests, course textbooks, online course materials, etc. This will allow the PAL leader to be appropriately prepared for their PAL sessions. 

Promotion and Endorsement of PAL

• During the first week of classes, instructors are asked to allow the PAL leader a couple of minutes to introduce themselves to the class, explain what PAL is, and invite students to attend the PAL sessions.
• Every few weeks, instructors allow the PAL leader to make subsequent announcements, reminding students that PAL is available, the day(s) and times of sessions and letting the students know of upcoming exam reviews.
• Instructor periodically makes announcements reminding students about PAL and including the information on PAL and sessions in course announcements.  The instructor should endorse PAL for all students, not just those who are struggling. This helps to eliminate the stigma that only those who are failing the course should attend. The combination of high-and low performing students in PAL sessions provides a collaborative and less threatening environment, where students learn from each other in a more intimate setting. 

As you can see, the time involved and work commitment for instructors is minimal, but the results can be immense. Data shows that students at µÛÍõ»áËù who attend 10 or more PAL sessions a semester can get a full letter grade higher than if they don’t attend PAL. PAL provides a valuable resource for both student and instructor.   

Peer Tutoring 
Specialized Services & Faculty Requests

Embedded Tutoring

Embedded Tutors are peer tutors placed directly in select courses to support student learning through in-class assistance, study sessions, and additional tutoring opportunities. They collaborate with faculty to reinforce key concepts and encourage active engagement. Preference is given to courses that incorporate active learning strategies. Courses with Embedded Tutors see higher student engagement with academic support programs.

Faculty interested in adding an Embedded Tutor to their course can review the Embedded Support Guidelines.

Partnered Technology/Special Topics Workshops

Enhance student engagement and support learning in your course with customized workshops on essential technologies like SPSS, ALEKS, and more. Our team collaborates with faculty to provide targeted instruction that helps students develop the skills needed to succeed. We are happy to tailor workshops to meet the specific needs of your course.

Writing Commons

The Writing Commons is eager to work with departments and colleges to increase student use of writing assistance. The students who have engaged with our services have an overwhelmingly positive view of their experience, and they leave more confident writers. The following is a list of the common ways students and faculty collaborate with the staff in our program.

Typical services we provide to all µÛÍõ»áËù students:

• One-on-one tutoring at all stages of the writing process, from brainstorming ideas for a paper to reviewing a final draft. We have undergraduate, graduate, and professional tutors who can assist their peers with many forms of writing, including:
  • course papers
  • lab reports
  • capstone projects
  • presentations and conference papers
  • publishable articles
  • dissertations
  • personal statements
  • job applications
• Workshops (group events) on various writing-related topics, including outlining, overcoming writer’s block, moving beyond the five-paragraph essay format, and utilizing AI in the writing process

We also want to work with faculty to arrange targeted assistance to specific student populations. Our team can:

• provide writing support for individual classes (including embedded tutoring), including turning workshops into classroom presentations
• stage classroom visits to talk about writing support
• tailor workshops/events to meet the specific needs of a field or course curriculum
• provide on-site, drop-in writing tutoring in a chosen location within your building

Request Service

The Writing Commons is available to discuss any other ideas that departments or faculty might have to connect students with writing support. Our email is writing@ohio.edu.

Writing Commons Faculty Resource Videos

The Writing Commons has developed the following set of videos to showcase how students engage with our services and how faculty can collaborate with our program to support student success. We encourage all faculty to watch, share their feedback on the content and usefulness, and suggest additional topics for future videos.

Feedback Welcome!

Please provide your feedback on these videos. Thank you for helping us enhance our connections with µÛÍõ»áËù faculty and improve our support for students.