Peer Instruction 4 CS: Resources for Inclusive Pedagogy

Peer Instruction is an interactive pedagogical approach where students prepare for lecture by reading relevant material, then attend lectures prepared to discuss with peers and the instructor. In class, the instructor poses several multiple choice questions: for each, students individually think about the question, discuss with peers for several minutes, and vote on the correct answer. 

Curricular materials, how to guides, and other support for faculty are available at  http://peerinstruction4cs.org/

Active learning, such as Peer Instruction is a best practice for inclusive pedagogy. Theobald, et al., (2020) report that “Active learning benefits all students but offers disproportionate benefits or individuals from underrepresented groups.” Research on Peer Instruction in computing has shown that Peer Instruction (1) is valued by students in lower- and upper-division courses at both large research-focused universities and small liberal arts colleges (Lee, et al. 2013; Porter et al. 2013a; Porter et al. 2016), (2) shifts students classroom engagement from passive to interactive (Simon et al., 2013a), (3) results in in-class learning, both from peers (Porter et al., 2011) and from the Instructor (Zingaro & Porter, 2014), (4) reduces failure rates by 67% (Porter et al., 2013b), (5) results in an average of  5% better final exam performance (Simon et al., 2013b; Zingaro, 2014), (6) contributes to a 31% increase in 1-year major retention (Porter & Simon, 2013), (7) scales better than lecture for large classrooms based on student perceptions (Liao et al., 2017), and (8) provides data useful to researchers for identifying key concepts and struggling students (Porter et al., 2014; Liao et al., 2016; Liao et al., 2019).  

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Activity Summary

[PI-NAME] will adopt Peer Instruction course materials in their course, which is a best practice for inclusive teaching.

1. Context & Goals

Context: [If available, include analysis of differences in DFW rates by demographic group. Recommendations are available for analyzing Institutional Data.]

Goal: Rates of students receiving a D or F, or withdrawing from the course (DFW Rates) will be consistent across demographic groups disaggregated by race, gender, and first-generation status. 

Activity Motivation: Active learning, such as Peer Instruction is a best practice for inclusive pedagogy. Theobald, et al., (2020) report that “Active learning benefits all students but offers disproportionate benefits or individuals from underrepresented groups.” Research on Peer Instruction in computing has shown that Peer Instruction (1) is valued by students in lower- and upper-division courses at both large research-focused universities and small liberal arts colleges [Lee, et al. (2013), Porter et al. (2013a), Porter et al. (2016)], (2) shifts students classroom engagement from passive to interactive [Simon et al. (2013a)], (3) results in in-class learning, both from peers [Porter et al. (2011)] and from the Instructor [Zingaro and Porter (2014)], (4) reduces failure rates by 67% [Porter et al. (2013b)], (5) results in an average of  5% better final exam performance [Simon et al. (2013b), Zingaro (2014)], (6) contributes to a 31% increase in 1-year major retention [Porter and Simon (2013)], (7) scales better than lecture for large classrooms based on student perceptions [Liao et al. 2017], and (8) provides data useful to researchers for identifying key concepts and struggling students [Porter et al. (2014), Liao et al. (2016), Liao et al. (2019)].   

2. Intended Population

Activity Participants: [PI-NAME] teaches CS[XX] once a year. The course typically serves [N] students. In the last offering, [P]% of the students were women and [P]% were underrepresented in computing because of their race or ethnicity. 

Participant Recruitment: The PI will email the Women in CS group the course description and a welcome note encouraging them to enroll in the course. 

3. Strategy

Activity Content: The PI will adopt lecture materials for the course CS[XX] from http://peerinstruction4cs.org/. In adopting these materials, the PI will be adopting the active learning pedagogy known as Peer Instruction. Peer Instruction is an interactive pedagogical approach where students prepare for lecture by reading relevant material, then attend lectures prepared to discuss with peers and the instructor. In class, the instructor poses several multiple choice questions: for each, students individually think about the question, discuss with peers for several minutes, and vote on the correct answer. The PI will share the data from the Activity Evaluation at a department in the second and third years. 

Activity Budget: N/A

Responsibilities of PIs: The PI will be responsible for implementing the Peer Instruction materials and updating them between each offering. 

4. Preparation

The PI has (1) reviewed the materials from http://peerinstruction4cs.org/ to determine that the materials align with the content for CS[XX], (2) emailed the material author to confirm that the website has the most recent version of the materials, (3) read/watched all “Getting Started” resources on http://peerinstruction4cs.org/, and (4) has updated the syllabus for CS[XX] based upon http://peerinstruction4cs.com/getting-started-syllabus-advice. 

5. Measurement

The PI will annually track DFW rates, exam performance, and final grades disaggregated by gender, race, and first-generation status. These data will be included in the annual report.