Six participants who were all alumni took part in individual telephone interviews conducted by an independent researcher. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis identified four main themes: the role of the supervisor, peer assisted learning, quality enhancement and learning to work in a research team. Participants felt that group projects facilitated their confidence in the research process. This has been demonstrated as two of the alumni have presented their projects at conferences and published in an international journal. Some of the alumni found working in a group challenging, but were able to reflect on the skills which they learned through managing the group dynamics. The potential benefits of group projects are an increase in peer assisted learning, the development of problem solving and critical reasoning, enhanced communication and team skills. The presence of a group member who fails to contribute has been identified as a potential constraint.

Reflection on emerging themes highlighted the importance of the supervisor’s role in facilitating the process. A framework for supervising group research projects work has been produced to facilitate others in supervising to best effect; this will feed into staff and curriculum development.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to inform and advance the body of knowledge of the contribution that ‘Peer Assisted Study Sessions’ (PASS) provides for student leaders in terms of its impact on their self-efficacy - the personal belief in competence to succeed within certain situations (Bandura, 1986). To date, there has been little research providing a practical insight into whether acting as the leader of university PASS has a perceived impact on self-efficacy. The results of the qualitative research are based on interviews from a sample of 16 leaders. We found that being a PASS leader improved self-efficacy specifically in the areas of: cognitive development, performance, engagement and satisfaction. The results of this study may have implications for the development of future programs, particularly, in terms of attracting suitable candidates in the recruitment process, the future training of leaders and the provision of ongoing support for the leaders to participate effectively in such programs.

This volume marks a significant period for the journal with planning by the Editorial team to ensure sustainability of the journal and ongoing quality in the sharing of research in peer learning. Since publication of Volume 4 we have appointed an Editorial Board to provide oversight and guidance to the editorial team in the strategic direction of the journal.

The Editorial Board members are:

• Associate Professor David Arendale, University of Minnesota
• Professor Jennifer Keup, University of South Carolina
• Professor Sally Kift, James Cook University
• Professor Rod O'Donnell, University of Technology, Sydney
• Professor Keith Topping, Dundee University

Further, the Journal’s Editor and co-founder, Dr Phillip Dawson and Associate Editor, Ms Sanchia Draper will be moving out of their day to day roles into positions on the Editorial Board, As the incoming Editor, Dr Jane Skalicky would particularly like to thank them for their commitment to the reputation of the Journal of Peer Learning and their underlying passion for ensuring that the work of peer learning practitioners and researchers has a scholarly place for sharing of this work.

In this volume we have three articles that share the outcomes of the integration of technologies with peer learning environments: the use of Table PCs in Devey, Hicks, Gunaratnam and Pan; asynchronous peer assistance in a nursing program, in Melrose and Swettenham; and the piloting of an online PASS program in Beaumont, Mannion and Shen. The article by Melrose and Swettenham also sees the introduction of our Notes section, which publishes brief high-quality non-peer-reviewed articles. Also in this volume are two applications of the Supplemental Instruction/PASS model to the disciplines of Engineering (Malm, Bryngfors and Mörner) and Physiotherapy (Sole, Bennett, Jaques, Rippon, Rose and van der Meer).

The final two articles apply qualitative methods: to the study of self efficacy (McPhail, Despotovic and Fisher) and to students’ experience of collaboration in a Master of Science research project (Hebron and Morris).

The publication of this volume sees the journal with a healthy pipeline of articles to come in the future and we invite authors to submit articles at any time for consideration for future volumes,

EDITORIAL TEAM

Dr Jane Skalicky, University of Tasmania

Dr Phillip Dawson, Monash University

Associate Editors

Dr. Elizabeth Beckmann, Australian National University

Sanchia Draper, The University of Melbourne

Janine Chipperfield, Griffith University

Dr. Chad Habel, University of Adelaide

Dr. Henk Huijser, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

Sally Rogan (Editorial Advisor), University of Wollongong

Overall, the students’ perceptions of PASS were positive for their learning, showing that PASS is a useful and effective adjunct to formal teaching for this group of students. Three main themes were identified: learning environment, revision and mastery of skills and clinical application. This study suggests that PASS could play a useful role in an undergraduate physiotherapy programme.