scholarly journals MySci Advisors: Establishing a Peer-Mentoring Program for First Year Science Student Support

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Poling
Keyword(s):  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Science Student ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University ◽  
Early Establishment

Would you like to help your students adjust to university life? Perhaps you are simply interested in allowing them to feel more integrated into a department right from the start of their first year? These were the types of issues that we were hoping to address when we founded the MySci Advisors Program, a peer-mentoring group for first year students in the Faculty of Science at the University of Windsor. This program is run entirely on a volunteer basis with no working budget, so if you were considering starting a mentoring program but have been concerned about the cost of doing so, this essay may be of particular interest to you. MySci Advisors is only in its third year currently, so this essay is meant to focus on the lessons we have learned in the early establishment of the program. I outline some of the practices we have adopted for the program, some of the changes we have had to make along the way and provide some early evidence of success. It is my hope that others may be motivated to also form such a program or use this information to assist in their own early endeavours.

scholarly journals The Benefits of Academically Oriented Peer Mentoring for At-Risk Student Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-199
Author(s):  
Bryan Hall ◽  
Joseph Serafin ◽  
Danielle Lundgren
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
Transition To College ◽  
Mentoring Programs ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Student Mentors ◽  
The University ◽  
Major Discipline

This article examines an academically oriented peer-mentoring program at St. John’s University. The program targeted at-risk first-year students who were having difficulty making the transition to college and matched them with trained student mentors within their major discipline. In addition to meeting with one another bi-weekly, all of the students came together for a series of organized events over the course of the academic year. The goals of the program were that mentees would (1) feel an increased sense of belonging at the university, (2) raise their GPAs, and (3) show improved retention to the second year. After examining how successful the program was relative to these goals, the authors recommend some best practices for peer-mentoring programs. These recommendations are based on both features of the program in the study that contributed to its success and areas where the program could have been improved based on the results.  

Forging Connections: An Investigation of New Students' Perspectives of Their Transition to the University

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Baruch-Runyon ◽  
Zark VanZandt ◽  
S. Auguste Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Transitional Experience ◽  
University Life ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University

We studied first-year students through an integrated group workshop and longitudinal interviews that focused on students' transitional experience at the university as well as the strategies they developed to adjust to university life. Four themes emerged: the challenges of forming connections to other students with similar interests during the first few weeks on campus, the need to balance competing demands, varied experiences of connection with faculty and staff, and the need for translation of university life for minority students. To address the issues and concerns that emerged from our findings, we offer a number of advisory recommendations and programmatic initiatives. Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

scholarly journals Student Support and Transition Through a Buddy Programme to Foster Social Integration

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-63
Author(s):  
Ana Naidoo ◽  
Hestie Byles ◽  
Sindi Kwenaite
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Contact Point ◽  
Student Support ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Of Pretoria ◽  
University Life ◽  
Student Advisor ◽  
Peer Advisors ◽  
The University

The University of Pretoria (UP) began offering formal academic student support in 2011 when the first faculty student advisor (FSA) was appointed. Although many more FSAs were subsequently appointed, assistance to all the students in need of support remained insufficient. However, financial assistance through the collaboration grant received from the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2018 made it possible to explore new areas of support. The UP was able to pilot four innovations due to the availability of additional funds. These included generic workshops across faculties; the creation of a hub in the library, which served as a common contact point for students requiring assistance; the appointment of peer advisors; and a Buddy Programme for first-year students. This article explains the Buddy Programme as perceived by the senior students who mentored the first-year students. The mentors are known as “big buddies”. Our work on this programme is based on Tinto’s (1975) ideas about social integration. The Buddy Programme was introduced to assist first-year students in their transition from school to university life. This paper highlights the challenges that first-year students faced and it explains how the concepts could become institutionalised once university activities have been normalised in the post-pandemic future.

scholarly journals Students and Tutors’ Perceptions of the Use and Functioning of University Tutoring

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Soledad Peralta ◽  
María Antonella Klug
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Orientation ◽  
Private University ◽  
First Year ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
University Life ◽  
The University

This article aims to study the functioning and perceptions of students and tutors of the university tutoring system in a private university institute in the city of Rosario. An exploratory-descriptive study was used, wich included a case study design. The university tutoring functioning was analized from the tutors’ perspective (with semi-structured interviews) and the first-year students’ perceptions (with the application of a questionnaire). The results indicate that, for tutors, the listening skills, the need for training, and the teamwork capacity are important. With regard to the students, it was found that more than half do not know about the tutoring, and that those who know about it manifest to have received the information from teachers and peers. Some of them consider that this space relates to the theoretical orientation and manifest preference toward the academic tutoring function, while others consider that tutoring enables them to carry out a comprehensive vision of university life.

FEUP peer mentoring: Promoting integration through support and experience sharing

2021 ◽  
pp. 030641902110259
Author(s):  
IM Ribeiro ◽  
TP Duarte ◽  
MMSM Bastos ◽  
AA Sousa ◽  
LFA Martins
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Integration Program ◽  
Social And Academic Integration ◽  
Degree Of Satisfaction ◽  
New Type ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into

Admission to higher education is a milestone in the lives of young people. This can be accompanied by several changes in the student’s life such as a new place of residence, a new group of friends, and a new type of education. This entry into higher education can provide a new series of experiences, challenges, and newfound independence. However, it might also expose problems and difficulties, possibly hampering the student's personal and academic development. In order to ease the integration into higher education, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) has developed a Peer Mentoring Programme promoted by students already attending different FEUP courses (mentors) which intends to support the first-year students (mentees) in this phase of their life, coordinated by some teachers from each course. This social and academic integration program is supported by 4 core ideas: Integration, Support, Experience, and Sharing. This work provides insight into the way in which this program is organized at FEUP, highlighting the students’ participation (mentees and mentors), the main contributions that each of them values, their degree of satisfaction and involvement, activities that were developed, and some testimonies.

scholarly journals The Effects of a Peer Mentoring Program on Academic Success Among First Year University Students

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Rodger ◽  
Paul F. Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
University Students ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Final Grades ◽  
First Year University

The present study examines the effect of participation of first-year university students in a full-year peer mentoring program as well as individual differences in motivation in relation to outcome measures of retention and achievement. A sample of 983 first year students completed the Academic Motivation Inventory (Tremblay, 1998) and agreed to provide final grades; 537 students were randomly assigned to participate in the program, while the remainder served as a control group. Mentored students who continued to participate mid-way through the second semester had significantly higher final grades than did students in the control group. There was no effect on retention from year one to year two, however data are being collected on retention and grades for all groups for the length of their undergraduate careers. Students high in anxiety in the mentored group showed achievement comparable to that of low anxiety program participants, whereas students in the control group with high anxiety scored significantly worse on achievement than did their low anxiety counterparts.

scholarly journals Cost-Sharing in Higher Education in Tanzania: The Experiences of the 1990s and One Decade Later

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Puja
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Cost Sharing ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Premier Cycle ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University

This article discusses the cost- sharing experiences of 73 Tanzanian female undergraduates who took part in a 1997 study. It also integrated views and suggestions of the 2007 students from the University of Dar es Salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture, Mazimbu campus. The University of Dar es Salaam was closed in 2007 because First Year students boycotted classes to protest the government’s policy that required them to pay 40% for their higher education. I advocate for partnership in student financing and the introduction of graduate tax for recovering higher education students’ loans. Cet article traite les expériences du partage des coûts de 73 tanzaniennes du premier cycle qui ont pris part à une étude en 1997. Il a également intégré les avis et les suggestions des étudiants de 2007 venant de l’Université de Dar es Salaam et de l’Université d’agriculture Sokoine du campus de Mazimbu. L’Université de Dar es Salaam a été fermée en 2007 car les étudiants de première année ont boycotté les cours afin de protester contre la politique du gouvernement qui leur a exigé de payer 40 % des frais pour l’enseignement supérieur. Je préconise un partenariat de financement des étudiants ainsi que l’introduction d’un impôt gradué afin de recouvrir les prêts des étudiants de l’enseignement supérieur.

scholarly journals First-year Students’ Adjustment to University Life: A Case Study of Implementing College Buddy Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Maryam Alharthi
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
First Year ◽  
Present Program ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Life ◽  
New Students ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year University

Transitioning from secondary to higher education is not a natural step for many first-year university students. Most female students who join Taibah University did not have the chance to visit the university and get to know the programs offered there before they applied. Therefore, the Childhood Studies Department within the College of Family Sciences has initiated the present program – My Uni-Buddy. The program was applied on a small scale to create connection between first-year students and their fellow students in the third year. The aim of the program is to support new students and help them adjust quickly to their new life. The study employs a qualitative approach in which interviews were carried out to collect the relevant data. The findings show that first-year students hughly benefited from the program in the academic and social aspects.

scholarly journals Mentoring program for students newly enrolled in an Engineering Degree

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Juan Pedro Peña-Martín ◽  
Eva González-Parada ◽  
Carmen García-Berdonés ◽  
Eduardo Javier Pérez-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Generic Competences ◽  
The University ◽  
Senior Students

<p class="Textoindependiente21">This work presents a mentoring program for first year engineering students in the Telecommunications Engineering College (ETSIT) at the University of Malaga (UMA). Actors involved in the program are professors from staff, veterans mentoring students and, of course, freshmen. All of them has been organized trough the Moodle based Virtual Learning Environment Platform of the UMA. The program has gone through several phases over three years. This paper shows the main objectives of this mentoring program, the initial design to get them where professors played mentor role, and successive changes made to try to improve the results, including the assumption of the mentor role by senior students (peer mentoring). The tools used for program evaluation are shown too. Despite the low participation, it has been a framework for the development of various educational and socializing activities (for mentors and mentees) focused on developing generic competences. Furthermore, it has been a research tool to get a better understanding of problems affecting students newly enrolled.</p>

scholarly journals Connecting embedded and stand-alone peer mentoring models to enhance student engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhys Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Peer Mentoring ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Attendance Rates ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
College Of Engineering

This paper outlines the Trident Student Mentoring Program that runs in the College of Engineering at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. The program offers both embedded and stand-alone models of peer mentoring services to the same cohort of first-year students. It shows that by forming strong links between these two types of peer mentoring models, the inherent challenges of both, such as low attendance rates in stand-alone models and short periods of peer to peer time in embedded models, are mitigated.

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