PASS Leaders
What are four key employability skills that training and working as a PASS Leader develops?
What is the pedagogy that acted as the foundation platform for PASS to build upon?
A movement called Supplementary Instruction
What are two of the key promotional messages of PASS?
Guaranteed study time
what and how to learn (i.e. integrate content and learning skills)
Who are the key players in the PASS Model?
1.PASS Supervisor (can you name yours?)
2. Subject Coordinators (do you know the people that are responsible for courses you are supporting?)
3. PASS Leaders (who are the other leaders employed in your discipline?)
4.Students (the reason for the season... voluntary participants and the MOST crucial stakeholder in this model).
Why is being trained and certified as a PASS Leader so beneficial for PASS Leaders?
You know what and how to do in sessions
It is a mark of distinctive competency that further enriches your own learning journey.
Future employers have proof of the key knowledge, skills, and capabilities developed in the role
Name four potential topics that PASS Leaders might cover in their PASS sessions
Settling into University
Time management
Getting the best out of lectures or seminars
Making the most of office hours
Effective note taking
Research techniques
Essay writing
Report writing
Exam writing
Advanced presentation skills
Information literacy and making effective use of library services
Paragraph writing
Presentation skills
Avoiding plagiarism
Referencing skills
What year did PASS start?
1973
When people ask what is PASS, what are four of the key ideas you can express?
+find your feet, make friends with likeminded people
+learn the academic system and expectations
+ complete course specific learning activities
+with a teamwork environment
+develop foundational study skills
+improve individual student grades
+foster ownership of and a genuine passion for learning
+guidance of a more senior student who has been specifically trained for the role
What are you meant to do in the paid team preparation session?
Work with fellow PASS leaders to come up with a plan plus create resources for three - four activities that help promote clarity on structure and content depth for the week's learning sessions.
These are designed to be active learning activities where students figure stuff out and then build into the next activity. Not every PASS session will use all planned activities and students might wish to focus on things you have not planned for. Having a tool box of quickly accessible activities means you can roll with the punches in helping people with their needs.
Why is there benefit in having your PASS sessions evaluated by a senior PASS Leader or your delegated PASS Supervisor?
So you can gain feedback on what is working well and how you can make tweaks to further add value to your delivery methods.
This continuous self-improvement outlook and methodology hones your craft and builds value with students.
What is the difference between a tutorial and a PASS session?
In tutorials, Lecturers or Tutors typically cover a set of work and assessments where the activities are teacher led, whereas each PASS session has an agenda determined by the PASS Leader and the attending students for that week and this is done in a team/study group setting facilitated by the PASS Leader to maximise beneficial learning experiences.
Where is the birthplace of PASS ?
The United States of America and specifically from the University of Missouri
What is PASS not?
+ A tutorial
+ A remedial program
What is the purpose of having one hour course time contact or PASS leader study time?
It could be this time is used to attend the lecture (if PASS rounds behind the lecture) or part of it to met with/email the course coordinator to find out what they feel is important to cover in this week's PASS sessions.
What are four key resourcing elements that every PASS session should have?
Markers/pens/ sticky notes/ activities/ throw the parrot (any ball or soft toy)/ blue tac /sellotape /scissors/ Lollies/ learning prompts
Butchers paper or whiteboards or Google docs/google jamboards for zoom/online
Chairs for all students and PASS Leaders to sit
Tables to gather around and write or do activities
Welcoming and warm atmosphere for all
Professional attitude, genuine passion and care for student's learning journey
PASS research has shown students gain hours of individual study benefit when regularly attending PASS. What is the ratio of benefit?
PASS students receive the equivalent of three hours individual study time each time they attend an one hour PASS session
What is PASS?
A voluntary peer based academic assistance program
What is PASS 'Candy'?
This relates to the physical take away resource that students get to keep from their attendance at PASS.
For example: It could be a handout or file on how to write academic paragraphs, a referencing resource, an essay plan template, a link to the shared google doc or google jamboard session where PASS students have built a knowledge wiki
This serves as a great hook for students to come back as they have a tangible reminder of something useful to their learning and performance.
Who do you go to when you have questions, don't understand something, need to swap shifts, and generally want support?
If you can't attend your session then you need to arrange a replacement from your PASS Leaders - you then inform your PASS Supervisor that so and so will be taking your session on this day and time.
It is not your PASS Supervisor's responsibility to arrange shift cover.
This is a self-sustaining and increasing self-managing position. Please brainstorm ideas and solutions with your fellow leaders but do know about from shift cover, PASS Supervisors are here to be a sounding board, offer sage suggestions of have you thought of doing it that way? etc. We value you and work with you to have a fantastic employment experience.
Given that the PASS Leader standing or sitting on a desk addressing the entire PASS Session is NOT an outcome that is valued... please quickly sketch three strategies that leaders could use make the classes less 'class like'
1. Group discussion - lots of people all connected with each other in some way
2. Clusters - small teams/groups separate from the cohort and connected together
3. Working in pairs/ turn to a partner - people with one connection to another
BONUS: Where should the PASS Leader/s be in these sketches?
Name four ways of achieving positive group dynamics
. The PASS Leader uses additional resources
The PASS Leader makes responsible referrals and understands boundaries of the role
What types of subjects does PASS work/support/align with most?
Subjects that are perceived as difficult by students or which have strategic importance to a particular discipline.
PASS research has shown that students who attend PASS at least five or more times during the semester work to achieve an academic advantage in their final grade. What is the range of benefit that is evidenced over and above the student cohort?
Between a 5-10% increase of grade performance over and above the student cohort that does not attend PASS
How do you log your timesheets for PASS?
What should the PASS Leader be doing during group discussion or activities?
It is important for the Leader to be guiding the direction of the group discussion, so the students remain on the right track and don’t get off topic. In order to do this, the Leader can…