This paper outlines the Peer Assisted Teaching Scheme (PATS) that was trialled across seven faculties at Monash University, and supported by a 2010 ALTC Teaching Fellowship. The Scheme aims to build peer assistance capacity in faculties to improve student satisfaction of units. It achieves this by embedding Brookfield’s four lenses to engage teachers in a process of critical reflection and builds on the current research that highlights the benefits of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) and mentoring programs but applies it to academic staff themselves. Data for this study was gathered using focus groups and written descriptions of the partners collective experience. A thematic analysis was applied to analyse the data. Findings illustrate the efficacy of PATS activities to create, sustain and develop new connections, and foster a culture of improving teaching and student learning.

Keywords: Peer Assisted Teaching, Building and sustaining connections