You can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends.
Who had the biggest impact on your time as a student? Your tutor, the people on your course or the friends you made? Peer effects occur when a person’s behaviour is affected by his or her interaction with peers who are “equals”. In the higher education setting these effects are an emergent property brought about by the interactions between students (Winston and Zimmerman 2004). If my friend works hard I feel compelled to work hard as well. If my friend does the minimum to pass I will also do the minimum to pass. Interaction with peers can positively influence overall academic development, knowledge acquisition, analytical and problem-solving skills, and self-esteem (Kuh et al 2006). This has been demonstrated in a study looking at roommates in a US institution and showed that students who share rooms with peers of high academic ability achieve higher grades than those who share a room with students of similar academic ability Zimmerman 2006. These peer relationships are important and have been identified as amongst the most influential components in helping students adjust to the demands of learning in higher education and encouraging intellectual self-confidence (Antonio, 2004).
Good friendship interactions can give a confidence boost
Antonio 2004 sets out that the manner in which students develop is influenced greatly by their peer group. This group acts as a reference point for norms during the person’s time as a student through interpersonal interactions. It has been recognised for many years that these interpersonal peer groups influence the member’s attitudes towards attainment, achievement and further aspirations (Wallace 1966). Antonio sets out in his work that students who have best friends with relatively high levels of intellectual self-confidence “tend to be more self-confident intellectually after two years compared to students with less confident friendship groups“. This indicates that confidence will brush off on you and you yourself will become more confident. Diversity in the friendship groups was also looked at within this article. The positive effect of a diverse friendship group on intellectual self-confidence was found only for BME students suggesting that diverse friendship groups give more varied reference points from which to evaluate themselves and see the inaccuracy of these stereotypes Lehman 2012.
How does this play out in a classroom?
Within the learning environment peer groups can have a powerful effect on how students interact with staff and the learning material. Beattie and Thiele state that “College students who interact with professors and peers about academic matters have better college outcomes.” This effect can be diminished in large group teaching with students enrolled in smaller classes, having significantly more interactions with the lecturer (Beattie and Thiele 2016). The paper also discusses that first generation students to higher education are less likely to talk with a lecturer and BME students become less likely to talk about careers with the lecturer as the class size increases. Class size however was not significantly related to student discussions of course material and/or assignments with peers. In terms of attainment social anxiety manifesting as a lack of interaction has significant and negative relationship with academic achievement. These findings highlight the critical role that social ties appear to play in successful academic outcomes and the positive effects of alleviating social anxiety during study (Brook and Willoughby 2015). One issue with large classes is that social processes start to break down, students can become alienated and antisocial behaviour at the back of lecture theatres can proliferate.
Formation of peer groups.
In a lab-based computer aid design class analysis of the correlation between learning outcomes and student interactions revealed that students who sit in groups have higher average scores. The results show that student achievement was positively correlated with attendance, social stability in terms of peer grouping, and time spent on task (Akhtar et al 2015). Within the lab based study students identified as forming groups with peers in one of three main categories:
- Peers from a similar cultural background, most importantly sharing the same language.
- Peers with whom they shared their social events.
- Peers groups formed on the basis of perceived similar intellectual levels. This group also appeared to gain good marks.
These groups may well be forged at a course level with students who progress through similar courses having more opportunities to develop reciprocal relationships with their peers (Deil-Amen, 2011). Kram and Isabella (1985) identified within the work place, and by extrapolation in the learning environment three types of peers that exist within a group:
- Information peers considered to be acquaintances with whom communication is focused on the exchange of information. (someone you work with to complete a task)
- A collegial peer is considered to be a co-worker who also acts as a workplace-based friend (someone you talk within the teaching space but not outside the teaching space)
- A special peer is considered to be a co-worker who also is a friend outside the workplace. (someone you talk within the teaching space and outside the teaching space)
Students enrolled on course with collegial or special peers experience greater feelings of connection with their classmates and are knowledgeable about the tasks they need to perform in the classroom (Sollitto et al. 2013). Such interactions can lead to greater academic success, develop an affinity for the subject being taught, have more motivation to succeed, create lasting friendships, or simply remain enrolled in school (Johnson 1995). The opposite is seen with information peers. Within the classroom setting both collegial and special peers are considered friends and students with special and collegial peer relationships disclose more and provide more social support to one another than students with information peer relationships (Sollitto et al 2013). This manifests itself during assessment tasks as students being competent in performing their classroom roles by exchanging task-related information.
The Peers in Peer group learning.
(personal thoughts at the end i.e. I have not referenced them yet)
Peer learning sets out that students interact with other students to obtain educational goals. Peer learning outside the classroom is likely to occur in free forming groups constructed along the lines of cultural background, social interactions or academic ability. The educational goals will be set by the group and might not be aligned to the learning outcomes set by the tutor. The tutor may well have set out a clear goal for the task but the peer groups unconscious decision may well be to pass with the minimum effort. In large group teaching without the intervention of the tutor, or a means of checking understanding of the individuals, misunderstanding or self-validation of incorrect ideas can occur leading to low marks for the group. The same wrong idea is propagated through the group, validated as correct by the group and only picked up by the tutor at the assessment stage. Equally academically gifted students who are intrinsically motivated can push each other to deeper understanding of the content exploring the area through conversation and questioning leading to higher marks for the group. There are solutions to this of course but they can be resource intensive for example multiple rounds of individual formative feedback (written or oral), smaller class sizes or follow-up tutorials. Targeted intervention within the classroom can also occur through the use of student response systems, for key learning points may well help identify areas of misunderstanding.
David's adventures in the classroom. 