A Student Perspective on the Effectiveness of PASS in Seminar Courses: A Mixed-Method Study

The General Education Foundation (GEF) Programme, consisting of two seminar courses, namely “In Dialogue with Humanity” and “In Dialogue with Nature,” has been a common core requirement of The Chinese University of Hong Kong since 2012. Aided by selected classics, students from all faculties engage in dialogues with their teachers and each other to reflect on what it means to have a good life, what an ideal society is, and the nature of intellectual pursuit in the sciences. Reading classics and discussing serious questions in class, however, can be challenging for some students. To help students meet these challenges, Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) were introduced in the pilot stage of GEF in 2010 and, with subsequent refinements, continue to this day. The seminar-style and interdisciplinary nature of GEF makes it an atypical case for PASS. This paper will examine and evaluate how PASS can improve student learning in seminar-style courses like GEF with a mixed-method study from a student perspective. According to evidence from online surveys and focus group interviews, PASS successfully 1) improves students’ understanding of the course content at a cognitive level, 2) assists and motivates them to prepare better for seminar discussions, effecting a behavioural change, and 3) facilitates affective learning outcomes in terms of confidence and motivation. Major challenges—including students’ misperceptions about PASS, differences in leaders’ approaches and organisational difficulties—are identified. Proposed solutions to these challenges will also be discussed.