The Study Partner Program

We have been struggling with the problem of finding ways to assist students in mastering the volume of information in our accounting and business law classes. At the same time, we have searched fora way to incorporate even more time-demand items, such as writing-across-the-curriculum and essay testing.

In 1986, as we were contemplating ways of improv- ing classroom study skills and test performance, through the college mail came an Innovation Abstracts “Tandem Testing” (Volume VIII, Number 29). The title caught our attention; and once we had read the article, its subject piqued our interest. We began to experi- ment in two of our classes. The results were encourag- ing enough to continue with others. Our successes with this teaching strategy encourage us to suggest it to instructors in our own and other disciplines.

Note: The Study Partner Program must begin with the instructor’s decision to give up traditionally-held views of “individual” homework and test performance. They must be replaced with a “team” view—where students share, not only the homework assignments, but also the test-taking and the resulting grades.

We were reluctant to leave the time-honored secu- rity of every student doing his own work and earning his own grade. For too long we had thought of coop- erative effort ona test as “cheating.” But we moved past that belief and introduced students to the pro- gram.

The Strategy

We begin class on the first day by introducing the Study Partner Program, along with the other class activities. We explain that it will be easier to master the volume of information required in the course if the students form small study groups. As support for this notion, we explain that the learning process will be more permanent if they add verbal discussion to the standard learning tools of reading the book, listening to the lecture, and writing the homework. We explain how the program should work and what is expected of cach student in the role of being a good partner. Students are encouraged to become acquainted with others sitting nearby, by talking before and after class, and to form into working groups after the first week, mecting outside of class to do homework and confer- ring by telephone.

Up to this point the students listen politely but are generally unimpressed by the Study Partner Pro- gram—and rightly so. They have heard all of that

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

April 7, 1989, Vol. XI, No. 12

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1989 Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER institutions for their own personnal.

before. Then we lay out the final point: Students will take their tests with their partners and share the grade. Student interest picks up right away!

We design every test so that cach two-person team is a testing partnership. Primarily, we use short-answer essay-style questions. The partners are free to discuss the questions and their answers quictly until they reach agreement; frequently, each partner writes a portion of each answer. The team submits one test paper with both names; the test grade is recorded for both mem- bers.

Several students can work on a study team, but only two students are allowed on a test-taking team. Some students prefer to work alone, and we allow solo test- taking. Whatever the arrangement, the same test is taken by all.

While we assist the students in forming initial working groups, they are free to choose their own test- taking partners and free to change them at any time. Thus, the hard-working student can “dump” a non- working partner; the lazy students soon feel the pressure to pet busy with the assignments.

Program Evaluation

It is difficult to measure the results ina purely quantitative fashion, but we feel several positive outcomes. As teachers, it is rewarding to stand in our classrooms on test days and observe the amount of additional learning that is occurring in the midst of that OQ quiet buzz of voices. When we overhear such telling ~ bits of conversation as “... but he said this...” or”... is what the book said,” we know that the Study Partner Program is working.

The student drop-out rate has decreased. Students tell us that the added support provided by the home- work group makes them feel less lost and helpless.

We can add material, and thus be more comprehen- sive on tests, without discouraging the test-takers. We can ask for responses to more difficult concepts.

Interestingly, asking more questions has not created a higher grade curve. Test anxiety has been reduced.

We have not used the Partner Program in every class, but it appears to work best in those classes where the material is especially complicated.

Larry Williams, Instructor, Business Education Bob Fullerton, Associate Professor, Mathematics For further information, contact the authors at Palomar

College, 1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos, CA 92069-1487.

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Stat and Organizatonal Development (N/SOD), EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (512) 471-7545. Subscnptions are available fo nonconsor tium members for $40 per year. Funding in part by the W_ K. Kellogg Foundabon and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and once dunng the summer, ISSN 0199. 106X