2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Peer tutoring has been used for several years at University of Portland, where peer tutors hold office hours in the Vollum Study Room to help students on homework problems and understand concepts. However, the peer tutors were not used very much by students. To expand on the existing peer tutoring program and increase use of peer tutor office hours, we added peer tutors in the classroom. In-class peer tutoring (ICPT) is defined as peer tutors attending sessions where students solve in-class assignments. Student surveys indicated students recognized the value of the peer tutors and thought ICPT improved their learning in the classroom. Student use of peer tutors outside of the classroom increased significantly; many students had to wait to get help from the tutors and the Vollum Study Room was often at capacity during tutoring hours. Peer tutors are a low-cost, community building way to provide more resources for student success. The implementation of ICPT has improved the peer tutoring program at University of Portland, and we plan to continue implementing ICPT in other classes and engineering disciplines.