{"id":16763,"date":"2021-04-28T14:49:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/?p=16763"},"modified":"2021-04-28T14:49:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:49:52","slug":"learning-support-part2-the-pal-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2021\/04\/28\/learning-support-part2-the-pal-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning support part2- The PAL journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey, I\u2019m Lara and I\u2019m back again to talk about support at BU, (if you haven’t read my first blog on this subject check it out here<\/a>).\u00a0 This time, I would like to look at a different type of support BU offers you in your first year, and how to support your fellow students during your second year. So let me take you through my PAL journey!<\/span><\/p>\n

PAL <\/b><\/p>\n

When I first started uni, I remember having this strange hour lesson weekly called PAL, I was very unsure of what it was. When I attended my first session I discovered that PAL means <\/span>Peer Assisted Learning<\/span><\/a>, which is a scheme to help first-year students to go through the year successfully with the help from a second-year student, in the same course.\u00a0 During the weekly sessions, the PAL leader facilitates the session, with other people from your course, and it’s a great way of asking questions and getting help in areas you are struggling with.\u00a0 The\u00a0 PAL leaders\u00a0 also\u00a0 create\u00a0 fun\u00a0 games\u00a0 and\u00a0 quizzes\u00a0 to encourage\u00a0 discussion. <\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span>I really liked those sessions, they were run by a very talented girl in the year above, it\u2019s was always a great place for discussion, a space to share our work and discuss ideas between us.\u00a0 It was also useful to learn tips and tricks to survive during the year, I remember once we had to write a story for our assignment and we felt a bit stuck, our PAL leader organised a session on how to encourage creativity, organising activities to help us find the inspiration we needed. It was such a good time! These sessions have taught me so much, helped me make friends, connect with the years above and gave me valuable lessons to make sure I enjoyed my first years as much as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, guys, when you get this session in your timetable, go and make the best of it! This is a great opportunity and, trust me, its so worth it!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be a PAL leader<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Becoming a PAL leader – the photoshoot<\/p><\/div>\n

I enjoyed so much the PAL sessions that at the end of the first year when I received an email to apply to become a PAL leader myself, I immediately did. I was chosen, together with other 2 classmates,\u00a0 and we attended a days training that helped us to learn how to facilitate rather than teach.\u00a0 The training was very interesting, and the skills I learnt I\u2019m sure will be very useful for the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Me and my course mate on the day we receive our PAL hoodies, but our 3rd PAL was missing, so we took a symbolic picture!<\/p><\/div>\n

Once we got our amazing green jumper we were so excited to do our first session! Everyone of us had different groups of students, I was very nervous for mine, but it ended up being a great experience, I gained a lot of self-confidence during the year and meet many first-year students.\u00a0 It was a fantastic feeling being able to help fellow students, hoping to give my group the same motivation and passion my former PAL did for me!<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Being a PAL leader is also very great addition to your CV, it helped me develop leadership skills which were very useful for my third year, I encourage anyone to try their best to become one!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Becoming a <\/b>Peer Support Leader<\/b><\/p>\n

During my final year at BU, I recognised the value of being a PAL Leader, I applied and became a <\/span>Peer Support Leader<\/span><\/a>. A PSL is a 3rd-year student whose job is to supervise PAL sessions and help fellow PALs to have their best experience.\u00a0 Giving them help and support, as well as providing useful feedback to deliver the sessions at their best!<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>I did enjoy my time as a PAL leader and fresh from the experience with the things I learned I felt helping new PALs would be the most obvious thing to do!<\/p>\n

This role has helped me to push my communication and organisation skills even further.\u00a0 I never believed I could be doing such a thing when I started at uni, but now I’m extremely happy with where this journey have taken me and the valuable lessons I have learnt along the way!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

PAL ceremony 2020!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The ceremony certificate! Presented by the University VC.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

PS: I should mention, at the end of the year you receive a certificate and you can win awards and get to attend a great ceremony with the Vice Chancellor. It was great to have the university recognise our hard work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The celebration!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, I\u2019m Lara and I\u2019m back again to talk about support at BU, (if you haven’t read my first blog on this subject check it out here).\u00a0 This time, I would like to look at a different type of support BU offers you in your first year, and how to support your fellow students during… Read more » about Learning support part2- The PAL journey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2860,"featured_media":16765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[499,828,12,704,1638],"tags":[609,785,710,607,1636,608,2569,811],"class_list":["post-16763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computer-animation-visual-effects","category-international-student-stories","category-student-blogs","category-student-life","category-undergraduate","tag-academic-support","tag-international-student","tag-international-students","tag-pal","tag-pal-leader","tag-peer-assisted-learning","tag-psl","tag-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2860"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16763"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16897,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16763\/revisions\/16897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}