Students Teaching Students enters fifth year

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On a cold January evening, students filled up a classroom in the Willard Building to learn about the Formula One racing series. At the head of the class was not a faculty member or a graduate instructor, but two undergraduates who were trained to teach through Students Teaching Students.  

Students Teaching Students (STS) is now in its fifth year of offering elective courses designed and taught by undergraduates. Student instructors can explore niche topics, such as HDFS 197: Navigating your 20s and ENG 197: Rhetoric & Rap. STS has made big strides in course sustainability; the Formula One course has been taught for seven semesters since 2022. Jason Agnoli and Ayaan Umar are the instructors for spring 2025.  

Umar, a management information systems major in the Smeal College of Business, said being an instructor taught him communication skills, time management and even how to be more outgoing. 

“Over the last semester and a half, I have very much enjoyed teaching,” he said. “It has been a learning experience for me. It has not only taught me more about the sport, but it has also helped me develop my skills professionally and has helped me improve my overall skill set.” 

He said becoming an instructor through STS also is a great way to dive deep into an enjoyable topic. Umar is a relatively new Formula One fan and became interested in the sport after watching the popular “Drive to Survive” series on Netflix and taking the Formula One course in 2023. 

Agnoli, a marketing major in the Smeal College of Business, has been following Formula One since 2017 after the sport introduced new technical regulations and the series caught his eye. He took the course, which he now teaches, in 2022. 

“I love to teach, especially about a subject I enjoy, such as Formula One,” Agnoli said. “I had some teaching experience before becoming a student instructor as a teaching assistant for Marketing 301: Introduction to Marketing. It is interesting to try different methods of instruction and ways of explaining complex material.” 

The other course in spring 2025 is SPAN 197: Merengue and More: Latino Dance Lessons and Artist Study. Both courses will return for fall 2025, with F1 returning as COMM 197-002 and more information to be available in the future for the dance course. Two new courses will also be offered for fall: COMM 297-005: Modern American Political Satire and HORT 297-003: The Orchid on Your Desk: A Deep Dive Into Indoor Plants. 

Lisa Wang, a junior majoring in biology and current STS program director, said the program equips student instructors with relevant resources at Penn State to facilitate the course development process. To get new courses on the books, STS first conducts outreach to potential student instructors to generate interest and ideas. Instructors can then apply with a syllabus proposal by submitting an official application open at the beginning of each semester to teach the following semester. Then, instructors will continue to work alongside STS, a faculty champion and an academic department to develop the idea and implement the course. The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence is also available to support STS instructors. All STS courses must comply with the same standards as all other Penn State courses and go through academic departmental approval to ensure that they are digestible for students and satisfies academic policies.  

“As a student instructor, I think you really get to know the subject matter that you're passionate about on a much deeper level,” Wang said. “And at the same time, it's not just academic, but it’s personal, it's professional and it's about being a better communicator. And I think STS does a really good job of providing those opportunities to student instructors.” 

According to a feedback survey, the fall 2024 cohort of the Formula One course consisted of students across eight undergraduate colleges. Students reported they enjoyed the course because “the student teachers held a learning friendly environment,” and they felt that they were “learning new information about things that no other class would teach you.” 

Students interested in taking an STS course in fall 2025 can do so during registration this spring. Those interested in teaching or developing a course can find more information by visiting stspsu.org/apply and submitting a course idea proposal form.