PAL

Peer Assisted Learning is a peer mentoring scheme at Beds. I was a PAL leader this year and we had PAL leaders in first Year, so I am going to give you an insight from both perspectives. You can find out more about PAL by clicking this link: http://www.beds.ac.uk/pal 

As a first year student, induction week can be quite overwhelming in terms of meeting lots of new people and being bombarded with information, most of which you won't remember! PAL leaders are with you in induction week to answer questions you may have, give you an insight into University life and to 'show you the ropes'. You will then have weekly group PAL meetings until Easter. 

As a first year it was great to speak to people who had been there and done that the year before, so they were great at answering questions - especially when it came to assignments and studying. We had sessions on assignments, the best places to go for a good night out, thinking about careers - all sorts! After the first few weeks we were asked to suggest things to talk about in PAL so the sessions were tailored towards us. Plus when you are wandering around campus for the first few weeks not knowing many people it's great to recognise a face and say 'Hi' as you walk past each other - it makes you feel more at home.

As a PAL leader it's good to make contact with the new first years. I have spent a lot of time this year developing sessions to help my first years and I made sure it was all tailored towards them and what they wanted. For example, my group were particularly struggling with a Physiology module so we spent some time working together to understand concepts, finding helpful resources to use if they got stuck again and getting to know how each person learns best. This was a really memorable session for me as I felt like I had really made an impact on their learning - they left the session understanding things they previously hadn't and had the knowledge of where to look if they got stuck again.

Being a PAL leader is not only great for your CV but it helps you develop you confidence, planning and time management skills but also the ability to think on your feet. Some weeks I had planned a session and all the group could talk about was something else, so thinking on my feet I ran a session on that so the group felt more comfortable and at ease by the time they left.