PAL has already kicked off this semester and is the perfect resource that’s there for you all year round. But what is it?
PAL is a Peer Assisted Learning resource that The SU coordinates in many departments. It’s where to find academic support and help from your peers and older years on your course. It’s designed to allow you to work through problems, improve skills and help with coursework approaches. It’s a great opportunity to work through problems together before lectures, help each other learn and explain things that helped you overcome problems. Even if you don’t have any problems to work through, the best way to learn is to teach others!
So far over 730 students have attended and benefited from PAL sessions this year! Sergios Gavriilidis, PAL Leader, in the Department of Computer Science, explains how it benefitted him:
"Being a PAL leader has allowed me to give back to the scheme that helped me so much during my first year. It has given me the opportunity to develop valuable skills and gain a better understanding of core course concepts.”
PAL is always improving; here are some of the great things that have been going on:
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PAL sessions have mostly returned to in person this year and attendance has grown massively. We’ve already had more students attend a PAL session in the first 3 weeks of the scheme than we had in the whole of last year.
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Biochemistry have introduced a new PAL scheme, with attendance increasing across the first three weeks (23 in Week 2 to 58 in Week 4).
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PAL Leaders are now able to drop in to talk to the Peer Support Team about their sessions and borrow resources.
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PAL leaders from different departments met last week to discuss student feedback, to continue to improve sessions for all attendees, including sharing activity ideas to enrich future sessions.
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Senior PAL Leaders have weekly check-ins to discuss how their sessions are going, ideas, issues and share any best practice.
If you think you would benefit from PAL but don’t have one on your course, get in contact with us! Speak to me or emailpeersupport@bath.ac.uk. We want to support as many students as possible to utilise PAL!
If you do have PAL on your course, why not give it a try? You can find out when your PAL sessions are on your timetable, and you can start attending at any point in the year. It might be just the thing you need to use, as and when it suits you.
Other students are there for you in more peer-lead opportunities!
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Language PAL, https://www.thesubath.com/peer-support/pal/language/, is for those of you wanting to learn a language at Uni or for personal development, or if you are going on a placement abroad. Language PAL is a great opportunity to learn more about the culture of the language and practice speaking and listening from native students. You don’t need to be learning the language at Uni – you could be using an app or wanting to refresh your skills from school.
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Skills Training: https://www.thesubath.com/skills-training/, is where you can learn new skills lead by your peers who can explain it in a more valuable way and share what they have learned during their time at University. Some of these include: Public Speaking skills, Upcycling, Phone Photography, Placement Preparation and many more…
Have a good week!
Jacob Withington (SU Education Officer, sueducation@bath.ac.uk ) &
the Peer Support Team (peersupport@bath.ac.uk )