PASS
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Comments from Staff and Students
Staff Comments'… I have learnt that PASS is an essential program to help students meet the challenge of university level mathematics. It provides them with an informal environment in which they feel free to ask questions, not just about the mathematics that they are being taught but why are they being taught it……… PASS also provides students with a forum to develop better study habits… I have gone from not knowing what PASS is, to considering it an integral part of the student learning experience.' Dr. Mark Nelson 'The PASS program has been utilised in my large first year business statistics subject over the last few years. We adopted the program because a significant proportion of students typically struggle in this demanding quantitative subject. Both anecdotal evidence and statistical analysis have shown the dramatic improvement in student results and confidence as a result of the PASS program, especially for students who traditionally do poorly in this subject. Apart from the direct effect of improving students’ results and capabilities in my subject, other evidence suggests that students also gain the skills and confidence to pursue further quantitative subjects at a more advanced level. I have also conducted statistical analysis of the use of PASS in subjects taught by other faculties and have reached similar conclusions.' Dr. Martin O’Brien 'I am very grateful for the PASS program, and the work that has been done with ACCY200 (Financial Accounting IIA) students. This is a difficult subject, and one of the students’ accounting major subjects. It has had a high failure rate over a number of years, and as subject coordinator, I have tried a variety of strategies to assist students to understand the subject, master its content, learn new study skills and think about the wider issues relating to financial accounting. The PASS Leaders have worked very hard with students, helping them with study strategies, and even preparing practice examination questions for them, in order to assist them with their studies……. I have been very impressed with their dedication and hard work. I am sure that the students find it easier to relate to them than to the regular teaching team, since they’re closer in age and understand the difficulties and pressures that students are working under these days.' Dr. Helen Irvine Student CommentsPASS Program in Spring 2008"The group interaction, it was good bouncing things off other students to help get a better understanding of the topic" - ACCY100 student "Having class discussions, being asked to think for ourselves rather than just being told the answers" - BMS112 student "My PASS leader was thought provoking asking many questions which helped problem solving, working in groups helped to build communication skills" - BMS112 student "PASS made it easier to work out problems in groups and more confident to communicate with the rest of the class" - COMM121 student "I became more comfortable in learning within a group, could learn how others see a problem" - CSCI114 student "My leader was friendly and easy going, we had a chance to do group work and help each other" - FIN221 student
PASS Program in Autumn 2008“PASS Increased my motivation to study and helped me understand the concepts that I was struggling with.” - ACCY200 student “Our leader was extremely dedicated and she shared her own techniques of learning, making it more practical to apply.” - ACCY901 student “The motivated and friendly atmosphere provided by the leader and other students to strive to achieve to the best of my ability!” - BMS101 student “It is a really good environment and the fact that you all work together to solve problems rather then just being told the answer really helped to better my understanding.” - CHEM103 student “The thing I likes most was that questions could be discussed amongst the class and problems were completed in groups in order to attain input from other people.” - FIN221 student “Going through questions together helped improve my problem solving skills - now I am better at maths!” - MATH141 student “Having a leader who has completed the course - someone who knows exactly what we are going through.” - PERF116 student “The discussions we had were always quite helpful to put all the lecture info into perspective and translating it and relating it all.” - VISA121 student
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