A Practical Guide to Developing Peer- Assisted Study in HE Institutions

A Practical Guide to Developing PeerAssisted Study in HE Institutions
Steve Scott-Marshall, Senior Counsellor,
University of Teesside
Kathryn Shaw, Student Achievement Officer,
University of Teesside
Who we are
Steve Scott-Marshall, Senior Counsellor:
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Remit to build, establish and encourage
peer-mentoring across the University
Train peer-mentors (flexible packages for
different schemes)
Integrate peer-mentoring into Learning,
Teaching and Assessment Strategy in
University
Who we are
Kathryn Shaw, Student Achievement Officer &
Retention Support Officer in TBS:
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Provide individual support for students
Orientation & Welcome Week Induction
Monitor and support attendance of 1st Years
Develop student peer support
Objectives of the Personal Development
and Employability module (PDE)
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To identify personal skills, abilities, interests
and motivations and relate these to career
opportunities
To develop skills shaped to employers’ needs
to enhance employability
To apply communication theory within a
business context, to include communication of
numbers and IT
To allow students to develop their PDP through
the module
Key aspects of the surgeries
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Focus on assignments for the Personal
Development and Employability (PDE) module
Open-door drop-in sessions
Mentor-led
One-to-one and group discussions
Students encouraged to share ideas
Questioning process
What do mentors do in the sessions?
Mentors DO:
 Encourage students to think about how to approach the
task and what the question means
 Guide students on where to access information
 Relate to students from their own experience
Mentors DO NOT:
 Re-teach
 Give students the ‘answers’
 Criticise staff
 Answer queries beyond the remit of their role
Essential attributes of the mentoring
concept at the University of Teesside
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A process form
An active relationship
A helping process
A teaching-learning process
Reflective practice
A career and personal development process
A formalised process
A role constructed by or for a mentor
A. Roberts (2000)
Questions/comments so far…?
Training the mentors
Initial induction:
 What is mentoring?
 Introduction to learning theory
 Communication, referral and problem solving skills
 Introduction to UoT support services
 Mentor Manual and information folder
Ongoing training:
 How to facilitate study sessions – not to re-teach!!
 Specific consideration of assessment tasks
Example content
(Task 1: SWOT Analysis)
Mentors role to facilitate Task 1 with students,
who were asked to:
 Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, threats), in
relation to your current strengths, skills and
qualities
 Present an action plan drawing from the
SWOT analysis
Evaluation (Task 1: SWOT Analysis)
Programmes:
Number of students
Business Management:
28
Public Relations:
5
Marketing:
3
International Business Studies: 2
Accounting and Finance:
3
Business Studies
3
Not known:
5
Total attendance:
49 students
(24 full time, 25 part time)
Evaluation (Task 1: SWOT Analysis)
Of students who attended a surgery for Task 1:
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94% found the session ‘useful’ (2% ‘not
useful’, 4% ‘not sure’)
91% said they would attend a surgery again
(9% were unsure)
93% said they would recommend the surgery
to other students (7% were unsure)
Evaluation
(Task 2: Emotional Intelligence)
A basic analysis of Task 2 results indicated
that students who attended a peer-assisted
surgery scored on average 5% higher than a
random sample of non-attending students
= A positive indication of the benefits to student
achievement (to be investigated further)
Evaluation
Feedback from mentees
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“This kind of service should be done more
often, it helps new students to get on with their
first tasks and gives you confidence with the
rest of your assignments”
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“It is very worthwhile to have a student’s
perspective on how to tackle assignments”
Evaluation
Feedback from mentors
Did you gain anything from the surgery?
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“relationships were developed with the students,
also made me think about the task (SWOT
analysis) for myself”
“I felt useful, approachable and it helped develop
my communication skills”
“It made me happy to know that I was helping
students and giving something back to the
University!”
Discussion points 1:
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What is the purpose of the peer mentoring
programme?
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How will it be embedded in the
school/faculty/university student experience?
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How can the students’ interests be placed at
the heart of the mentoring experience?
Discussion points 2:
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How will mentors be selected? What skills
do they need?
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What support and training is needed for
mentors?
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What’s the incentive for the mentors?
Please contact us…
Steve Scott-Marshall
[email protected]
Kathryn Shaw
[email protected]
Source materials
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Fullerton, H. (1999) Facets of Mentoring in Higher
Education 1, Staff and Educational Development
Association
Colley, H. (2003) Mentoring for Social Inclusion
Miller, A. (2002) Mentoring students and young
people: a handbook of effective practice
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/shw/peers.shtml Oxford
University peer mentoring scheme
www.tcd.ie/Student_Counselling/peer_support_page
1.php Trinity College Dublin peer mentoring scheme
Source materials
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Anderson, E.M. & Lucrasse Shannon, A. (1995)
“Toward a conceptualisation of Mentoring”, in T.
Kerry and A.S. Shelton Mayes (eds) Issues in
Mentoring, London: Routledge
Howard, A. and England-Kennedy E., Transgressing
Boundaries Through Learning Communities, Journal
of Cooperative Education, 36 (1)
Lundeberg, M. and Moch, S. (1995), Influence of
Social Interaction on Cognition: Connected Learning
in Science, Journal of Higher Education, 66 (3)