Dean Richard Feldman has approved the formation of a Center for Workshop Education based on an existing, highly successful program initiated by Professor of Chemistry Jack Kampmeier and Dean Vicki Roth of Learning Assistance Services (LAS) in 1995. In this program, students in lecture courses are divided into small learning groups of 6-10 that meet weekly and engage in collaborative problem solving. Each group, or Workshop, is led by an undergraduate selected by faculty and LAS staff from among those who previously excelled in the course. Typically, these leaders are trained to facilitate small group learning in a two-credit class called Issues in Group Leadership (CAS 352) that runs concurrently with the lecture course, taught as a co-partnership between the faculty course director and a learning specialist. About one-quarter of all UR undergraduates in eight departments participate in courses with associated Workshop programs, requiring 200-250 trained peer leader positions each year.

The key, according to Professor Kampmeier and Professor of Biology Terry Platt, who started using the Workshops for his courses in 2000, is that the peer leader helps students engage with one another; in discussion and debate, students negotiate and construct their own understanding of the material. The Workshop problems are complex and carefully designed by the course faculty to deepen students' conceptual knowledge and strengthen their ability to apply it. The Issues in Group Leadership class likewise enhances the peer leaders' skills in teaching and learning in an iterative way, by providing weekly instruction in group dynamics, pedagogy, learning theory, and a review of the academic content of the upcoming Workshop. "While laboratories might be considered 'hands on' methods of learning experimental approaches," says Kampmeier, "the Workshops are 'minds on' approaches to learning the content and concepts provided in the lectures."

Though initially based on principles of the national Peer-Led Team Learning project, the program has developed a character of its own at Rochester, and has consistently demonstrated the capacity to increase student achievement. Its lateral spread from its origins in the Chemistry department has been largely due to the view of both faculty and peer leaders that the program has great value. An additional benefit extends into the realm of faculty development, as current ideas about education and learning are discussed and evaluated weekly in the leader training sessions. The leader training courses will now be coordinated through the Center for Workshop Education, which will provide a focal point for the support of new initiatives as well as fostering greater interactions among those already involved in Workshop-associated courses. Overall, the Center consolidates the strengths and contributions of the Workshop Program and will support its integration into the fabric of undergraduate education at the University of Rochester.

The Co-Directors of the new Center will be Professor of Biology Terry Platt and Vicki Roth, who is Dean of Sophomores and the Director of Learning Assistance Services.