The “Introduction to Student-Centered Peer Education” training course is designed as a foundation for anyone entering a helping role. The framing, language, and examples speak to a peer-to-peer dynamic in the context of higher education, but we hope there are broader uses and applications, and we invite its use by any and all who find it helpful.

This training is structured with three primary content areas that are bookended by an introductory set-up and a  concluding  wrap-up. Here’s how it looks:

Each of the three units includes a note-taking and reflection sheet for participants to download or print prior to beginning each unit. Throughout the units, participants are prompted to complete portions of these sheets at key moments. In addition, at the end of each unit, participants are able to download key take-aways and information as a reference sheet to use in the future.

Throughout the course, we have captured the voices and perspectives of five peer educators from varied peer support roles at Oregon State University. Our goal in doing this was to provide specific, real-life examples to participants, and to demonstrate the breadth of style and approach across peer educators.

Research that went into this training content can be found in the "References and Learning Materials" link at the end of each unit. In addition, we offer other training tools we've found as of 2019.

How to use this training:

We offer this open resource with the acknowledgement that training our peer educators is of utmost importance to their success, and to the success of the students they’re helping. This training is meant to equip peer educators with strategies, tools, and peer education theories that will position them to both prepare for and respond to what may arise throughout their sessions. This, in turn, can improve the experience for both the peer educator and for the student receiving the peer support.

We have worked to integrate a number of topics and ideas into the course, but we acknowledge that it is not comprehensive in nature and should be supplemented with additional activities and training topics (for example: FERPA and confidentiality, logistics of the specific program or type of peer education, and more). In the Guide for Supervisors, we offer some suggested topics and activities for training that complement the “Introduction to Student-Centered Peer Education” course.

For those institutions or programs using the CRLA certification program, Level 1 certification requires 10 hours of training, and allows for 4 hours of that training to take place online. This module is estimated to take 3 hours to complete (including the reflection exercises) and covers several topics on the CRLA Level 1 topics list.

Next Steps:

In our process, we uncovered innumerable topics of use to peer educators. It is our intention to create at least one additional module (if not more) to build off of the content in this work. Additionally, we aim to create a companion training packet with activities for trainers and supervisors to use in an in-person, follow-up training that complements and builds off of this Intro module.

Feedback, questions, comments or requests: Please contact us or fill out this survey.

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