Niki Schmauch, coordinator of Academic Services for the College of Coastal Georgia’s Academic Tutoring and Instruction Center, recently contributed her expertise and ideas for the third edition of the Course-Based Learning Assistance Best Practice Guidelines, which guides peer student programs at college campuses across the United States and abroad.
This spring, Schmauch was selected with other instructors from four countries to review and create new standards. Schmauch applied her expertise from her work at the College to add specific examples and additional criteria to the guidelines. The CLA Guidelines follows the criteria established by the Council for the Advancement of Standards [CAS], and will be disseminated by the National Organization for Student Success and other online venues.
David Arendale, CLA Guidelines editor and associate professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, said he couldn’t be more pleased with Schmauch’s “robust participation.”
In a letter to Schmauch commending her participation in the review process, Arendale wrote, “Your expertise and practical experience in managing a peer learning program was essential for this document that will be read globally. In particular, your level of careful review of the text and detailed revisions was valuable for adding to the clarity of the guides.”
The CLA Guidelines was first released in 1995 and has been used by professionals over the years to help improve campus peer learning programs for higher student outcomes and graduation rates. The third edition of the guidelines more than doubled in size with more practical advice from Schmauch and the review teams.
“First of all, having the opportunity to work with Dr. David Arendale was such an honor. He is one of the most respected scholars in the field of peer cooperative learning [tutoring] and Course-Based Learning Assistance (CLA)-Supplemental Instruction (SI),” Schmauch said. “Secondly, the experience deepened my knowledge of various SI programs around the world and how they attain their goals while ensuring they adhere to applicable CLA best practices.”
Schmauch will be invited again to review the fourth edition of the guidelines and provide best practices for student success.