Faculty FAQ

What is required for me to become a Faculty Partner?

A faculty partner is expected to recommend students to apply for the job.  They add their assigned leader to be a TA in the course and meet regularly to discuss the session topics based on feedback. Faculty partners make PASS effective with attendance by encouraging students to attend sessions.

What are the qualifications to become an PASS leader?

PASS leaders are students who have taken and successfully completed the targeted course. In general, “successfully completed” means achieving an A or A- in the course with an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher. However, when choosing a leader, the director also looks at educational background, interpersonal skills, academic references, receptivity to learning active teaching methods, capacity for accepting feedback and training, and compatibility with the PASS model.

What are the benefits of having PASS support for my class?

PASS should be offered as an additional benefit to the students, not solely to increase test scores, but as a model of effective learning and appropriate college study behaviors. Through PASS, students are exposed to effective college level study habits of mind. PASS students learn to discuss the course material to increase and to check understanding. They have opportunities to mentally manipulate information to understand ideas, concepts, and problem-solving techniques rather than just memorizing facts. PASS also offers an enrichment experience for PASS leaders. It allows them to improve their course knowledge, study skills, and leadership skills that will benefit them in future courses and in their future professions. Finally, PASS leaders provide an important communication link between the instructor and students.

What is the difference between a PASS leader, and a UTF, or a TA?

A PASS leader is an undergraduate student who supports the entire class through facilitating peer study sessions held outside of the class 2 times a week during the semester.  They also conduct "super sessions" to prepare for tests. They are very similar to recitation leaders where the sessions are encouraging for students to practice the concepts.

A UTF is a classroom aid or mentor to provide help during the class, and offer support in many different ways according to the faculty need. A TA is a graduate student that can grade assignments. They serve as another resource for feedback and help answering questions.

Who trains the PASS leaders and who runs the PASS program?

The Director of the Center for Academic Belonging & Learning Excellence office administers the USU PASS Program. The Program Coordinator recruits, trains, and supervises PASS coordinators, PASS leaders, and PASS marketing specialist; meets weekly with and trains PASS coordinators to observe and coach PASS leaders; prepares and delivers the mandatory weekly training for PASS leaders and coordinators; prepares program materials; designs and supervises production of outcome reports and program analyses; prepares funding proposals; and is the liaison between the PASS program and campus community.

Why shouldn't I know who is attending PASS?

Many institutions require a PASS program to prove, using inferential statistical methods, that PASS participants exhibit benefits from the program over non-participants. To prevent the appearance of bias in grading and jeopardize the validity of research, instructors are asked not to track who attends PASS sessions during the semester. Technically, since PASS is part of a class, instructors certainly have the right to know what happens in PASS sessions. Unfortunately, when instructors attend PASS sessions, a result is that the data used for researching the impact of PASS on students is potentially compromised. This is so because data are considered biased when instructors in charge of grading know who is attending PASS sessions. In other words, who is to say that instructors do or do not favor PASS attendees when grading.

At Utah State University, the PASS supervisor encourages course instructors to talk regularly with their PASS leaders to stay informed on what is happening in the PASS sessions. If the instructor wants to attend a PASS session to have a more informed sense of how sessions are conducted, he/she can arrange that with their PASS leader. However, students may not participate as comfortably in the PASS session with their professor present.

References and additional Resources:

• Portions reprinted with permission from the International Center for Supplemental Instruction, Kansas City, Missouri; modifications and additions reflect specifics of the Utah State University program.
• Accreditation
• In 2003-04, Dr. Tyler Bowles, professor of Economics at Utah State University, published research results from the USU PASS program that identified students with below average academic ability are more likely to attend PASS. (Bowles, T. and Jones, J. “An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Supplemental Instruction: The Problem of Selection Bias and Limited Dependent Variables”. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2003-04.)
• Theories to support PASS:
  
  • PASS activities are consistent with Piaget's concept of constructivism wherein students must construct their own knowledge and use it to gain an understanding of material to be learned.
  • Educational theorists such as Dewey, Piaget, and Bruner advocate learning in peer groups (collaborative learning). PASS brings students together to collaborate to study and learn common subject matter.
  • The PASS model was developed by Dr. Deanna Martin at the University of Missouri at Kansas City in the early 1980's and focuses on refining the skills for learning as applied to specific course content. Study strategies are integrated into course content in PASS sessions. Students are, therefore, able to master course content while developing, refining, and integrating effective study skills.