Tonight I watched Dr. Andria Schwegler and Dr. Madelynn Shell from Texas A&M Central Texas present on “Peer Mentoring as a tool for Achieving Outcomes through Active Learning.” Dr. Malin K. Lilley taught the class. They are faculty members in psychology and presented at the Quality Matters (QM) conference. They are unique because they are a transfer only institution: 100% transfer, non-traditional, and many need entry-level skills. The institution is close to an army base and also a Hispanic Serving Institution. The program is offered online with both synchronous and asynchronous courses. Schwegler spoke about high impact practices embedded across the curriculum: a first-year seminar and writing course and experiences, a senior-level internship course, and on-campus experiences. Schwegler also provided data on mentorship and high impact practices that benefit both mentor and mentee. The peer mentor program was embedded in a one-credit-hour synchronous online course that is a first year seminar (high-impact educational practice). The course embeds QM standards that peer mentors model. The course learning outcomes were shared and include reading and applying core academic skills and soft skills, engaging in professional written and verbal communication, and applying interpersonal and intercultural responsiveness. The peer mentors are upper-level undergraduate students enrolled in the internship course credit with responsibilities that include attendance of class sessions and planning meetings. Mentors model class participation and share experiences. Shell explained that mentors present one slide per class, often a warmup or recap. That’s such a great idea I wish I had used! Mentors host discussions, demonstrate activities, ask questions, and moderate the chat. Shell noted that Specific Review Standards (SRS) are addressed by the activities of the mentors. For example, SRS 1.9 Learners have the opportunity to introduce themselves and SRS 5.2 Learning activities provide opportunities for interactions that support active learning. Mentors set up study groups and one-on-one online meetings – providing another check-in point. Mentors also provided support by tutoring on course technology and building a library of support resources that can be used beyond that course. The faculty-mentor interactions, Shell explained, are a collaboration that helps generate new content, develop engagement strategies to implement, and solve problems through collaboration and discussion. Mentors help by creating guides for students from the student-perspective. One example Shell mentioned was helping students with the enrollment process and degree plans. Mentors were also instrumental for break out room engagement and could provide information during the planning meetings with faculty. The institution helped create a peer mentor role that had view-only access to all course content, could communicate with individuals, and had no access to student information/grading. Schwegler explained they implemented across three sections and have IRB approved-data collection. Thirty-two students provided anonymous feedback on their mentors. Mentee comments after initial coding suggested mentors helped with the learning experience. Students recommended more mentor-mentee meetings and interactions. The team is going to use the data for program assessment and improvement. The research team also gained insight into group identification.
