A taxonomy of the characteristics of student peer mentors in higher education: findings from a literature review

Terrion, Jenepher Lennox; Leonard, Dominique

doi:10.1080/13611260601086311

Cited by 204 publications

(185 citation statements)

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“…The topic attracts a plethora of literature that is reviewed on a regular basis (Jacobi 1991;Ehrich, Hansford, and Tennent 2004;Terrion and Leonard 2007;Crisp and Cruz 2009). Peer mentoring involves more experienced students supporting new students during their academic and personal development, and has been found to be effective in: improving the first-year experience of students (see, for example, Watson 2000;Hensen 2003;Mee-Lee and Bush 2003;Farrell et al 2004;Tariq 2005); increasing student retention (see, for example, Packham and Miller 2000;Boud, Cohen, and Sampson 2003;Muldoon 2008); improving achievement, with some suggesting peer mentoring users gain higher mean grades than non-users (see, for example, Congos, Langsham, and Schoeps 1998;Ashwin 2002;2003); and improving the interpersonal skills of the mentors, which leads to enhanced employability (see, for example, Congos and Stout 2003;McLean 2004;Muldoon 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer mentoring – is a virtual form of support a viable alternative?

Smailes

Gannon-Leary

2011

Research in Learning Technology

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Support systems are vital for university entrants and one established means of support is peer mentoring, which has the potential to improve student engagement and retention. Peer mentoring models are generally based on face-to-face contact. However, given the increasing number of higher education institutions using social media, might online models be beneficial in a peer mentoring context? This article describes a literature review and case study that considers the advantages and disadvantages of three potential virtual models to facilitate a peer mentoring scheme. The case study, undertaken at Northumbria University, UK, involved an investigation of mentoring needs and current usage of electronic media where special attention is afforded to a diverse student body. The three models discussed are virtual learning environments (VLE), social networking sites and virtual worlds. We find that the VLE is established within institutions but lacks excitement; social networking is popular particularly with younger students but there may be resentment if this appears to be appropriated by the institution; whilst virtual worlds are unfamiliar to many students and require advanced skills to use successfully. Based on these findings the social networking model is now being run as a pilot study by business programmes at Northumbria University.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer mentoring – is a virtual form of support a viable alternative?

Smailes

Gannon-Leary

2011

Research in Learning Technology

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“…Professors who are tutors draw attention to issues related mainly to the attitude that tutors should have towards the individual student or group, emphasizing listening, showing interest and concern, getting close to students, being friendly, honest and open, and trying not to disappoint stu-dents (Terrion & Leonard, 2007).Other skills related to a tutoring process include the constant concern of the tutor in facilitating student learning and in guiding the way in academic tasks in which the students are constantly involved. The role of the tutor is not to direct but to guide, providing all necessary support and encouragement to the student/group, but this requires a rigorous and serious work plan.…”

Section: Tutoring: Determinant Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It requires constant readjustments to the time and to the project of each student. In some cases, a more directive approach is better while in others it may be best to raise questions that enable students to quickly find action strategies and to pursue objectives (Terrion & Leonard, 2007). The tutors must develop their performance by getting training in various areas, particularly in counselling, career management, communication skills, teamwork, conflict mediation, learning styles, etc., in order to provide a set of knowledge and skills that enable them to adapt their behaviour to students' profiles and to the type of situations they encounter in the tutoring process.…”

Section: Tutoring: Determinant Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tutorial Teaching: A New Paradigm for the Development of Competencies

Ferreira

2013

ECPS

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“…Fred Newton and Steven Ender in their book 'Students helping students' (second edition published in 2010) provide one of the most comprehensive texts on the development and effective practice of student peer mentors. Terrion and Leonard (2007) further review the literature to propose a taxonomy of characteristics of effective mentors.…”

Section: Booth and Esposito 2011)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer mentoring to secure student placements

Procter

2012

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a case study where student peer mentors were employed to motivate and assist undergraduates to secure optional professional placement positions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes the reasons for establishing the project, the recruitment and work carried out by the mentors. It explains a survey of students who had not undertaken placements the previous year to try to identify the activities that would be most effective on the part of the mentors. The mentors, together with the placement co‐coordinator, devised support ranging from one‐to‐one mentoring, drop in “clinics”, online support and large group talks. It discusses the results of this work and evaluates the responses of both mentors and mentees.FindingsThose mentees who took part in the mentoring were typically those who were already enthusiastic about placement opportunities. The majority of students did not take advantage of mentoring support, including support on a drop‐in basis or one‐to‐one basis or support available online through a social network. It was found that the mentoring scheme did not significantly affect the proportion of students seeking or securing placements. However, the mentors themselves gained tremendous benefits from the mentoring scheme, in particular developing their communication skills and confidence.Research limitations/implicationsA thorough survey of potential mentees was not carried out after the project to ascertain the reasons for their lack of engagement.Practical implicationsThere are two separate implications of this project. First, the mentoring scheme was valuable primarily for the mentors and not the mentees; and second, the level of support provided by the University is not the main factor in the low take up of optional placement opportunities. If these are felt to be sufficiently valuable for the student learning experience they need to be compulsory with appropriate support available – a mentoring scheme might then be of far more value to mentees.Originality/valueThere is very little published concerning the use of mentoring to facilitate work‐based learning so this paper is valuable for that alone. Furthermore, most published work on mentoring is located in the “best practice” school of pedagogical research where it is implicitly assumed that one must report on the success of an intervention. Frequently it is more valuable to examine more unexpected results of an intervention. This paper however shows much greater benefits achieved by the mentors than the mentees.

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A taxonomy of the characteristics of student peer mentors in higher education: findings from a literature review

Cited by 204 publications

References 42 publications

Peer mentoring – is a virtual form of support a viable alternative?

Peer mentoring – is a virtual form of support a viable alternative?

Tutorial Teaching: A New Paradigm for the Development of Competencies

Peer mentoring to secure student placements

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