Peer Tutoring Groups
Peer Tutoring Groups are small groups of 2-5 students in the same course who meet weekly with a Peer Educator. This free resource is focused on allowing students to receive additional support for questions they have on the course content while being part of a community of fellow learners. Peer Educators will communicate with students in advance of the meetings so that they can be responsive to student needs during the group meetings. Some groups meet in person and some meet virtually.
SAGE Learning Communities
The STEM Advancement Through Group Engagement (SAGE) program is an opportunity for students to work with 6-10 students in the same course. Each group meets weekly with a Peer Educator. The Peer Education Team coordinates with faculty of the course to ensure that the groups engage with content closely correlated with the course. SAGE helps students learn effective STEM study strategies, provides extra support for the challenging material in the course, and fosters a collaborative community of learners. SAGE students are highly motivated, want to establish a critical foundation for STEM learning at Duke, and are interested in learning in a community with other students. All SAGE Learning Communities meet in person.
Peer Tutoring Groups are a great option if you have specific questions/problems you want to work on. SAGE Learning Communities are a great option for additional time on the content, especially if you aren't sure what questions you have, and an opportunity to work with others and develop good learning/study strategies. For signup instructions, more details, and to see what other courses we offer services for, please visit the ARC's website:https://arc.duke.edu/peer-education/
Signups for Peer Tutoring Groups and SAGE Learning Communities open the morning of Thursday, September 4th and groups start meeting on Monday, September 8th.
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Peer Education Impact
In 2024-25, ARC Peer Education served over 1300 students across SAGE learning communities, peer tutoring groups, individual tutoring sessions, and MCAT accountability groups. Throughout the academic year, Peer Education served 42 courses, taught by approximately 60 faculty members.
“A SAGE learning community is a supportive and collaborative space to review concepts, come up with easier learning techniques, and share problem solving strategies to help each other understand the content to the best of our abilities.” – Biochemistry SAGE participant
“[My facilitator] has been amazing and truly changed my life! She has changed my love for math!” – Mathematics SAGE participant
“[My facilitator] quizzes us as we move through the slides which helps us practice active recall and it reinforces the material we discuss. She is also good at simplifying concepts and explaining it in a way that makes more sense. I like that she's also really welcoming and kind to us - truly makes you feel like it's okay to not be sure of an answer because she provides the explanations and help needed to improve and grow.” – Biology SAGE participant
“[My tutor] is very organized and clearly has an in-depth understanding over Econ topics. When I do not understand certain topics, she makes me feel comfortable in expressing my confusion and is always happy to go back and explain any topic I do not understand.” –Economics peer tutoring participant
“I like that my peer tutor gives us the opportunity to answer parts of the questions on our own/ask guiding questions. However, if we don't know the answer, she’s good at pointing us in the right direction so that we can figure things out.” – Physics peer tutoring participant
“[My tutor] is very patient, which is great. He never makes us feel like our questions are dumb. He explains things very well and has us work through problems with him to ensure that we know what we are doing.” – Chemistry peer tutoring participant