Peer-mentors Reflect on the Benefits of Mentoring: An Autoethography

Abstract

Many PhD candidates bring with them a wealth of knowledge and skills; however, these may not sufficiently prepare candidates to work with high autonomy on a project with often limited interaction with the wider research community. A peer-mentor program model, in which a mentor delivers dyadic and group support to higher degree by research students from different disciplines and backgrounds, has the potential to enhance candidates' knowledge and skills. However, the mentors themselves can experience significant advantages, as peer-mentoring can also have a positive effect on the mentors' research experience. In order to further understanding of the potential benefits of peer-mentoring for mentors, three researchers explore their experiences as peermentors through an autoethnographic framework. Through discussing their personal experiences as peer-mentors, the researchers identified a range of benefits for themselves. These benefits involved finding that peer-mentoring enhanced their own learning, fostered reflective practice, and provided current tertiary teaching and research support experience. Peer mentoring also gave them broad exposure to a breadth of disciplines, theories, and methods; provided project management insights; created opportunities for professional networking; supported their social needs; and gave them invaluable insight into other candidate/supervisor relationships. Their role in a peer-mentor model has shaped their experiences as PhD candidates and also informed their decisions after graduation.

Mentee Perspectives of a First-Year Peer Mentoring Program for Education Doctoral (EdD) Students

“…Research about the population studied in this study is not represented widely in the literature about peer mentoring. Although education doctoral students are participants in a few studies (Booth et al, 2016;Noonan et al, 2007;Preston, Ogenchuk, & Nsiah, 2014), little is known about the value of peer mentoring for education doctoral students in an educational leadership program designed to prepare principals and superintendents in public P-12 institutions in the United States. This study, which focuses on that population is an important addition to existing literature because in contrast to studies of education doctoral students who are full-time graduate students seeking to enter the professorship, our participants were full-time working practitioners who do not have immediate plans to leave their practice and enter the professorship.…”

“…It is important to apply findings regarding the extent to which benefits, if any, can be ascertained for mentees in peer mentoring programs that are relevant to the unique characteristics of educational leadership doctoral students who are not traditional full-time students. Furthermore, Booth et al (2016) underscored the importance of further research about different peer mentoring models. They recommend that further research is needed that explores "the impact of peer-support on client experiences, comparison of the efficacy of different peer-support models, and the features of peer-support models that offer the greatest benefits" (p. 399) for everyone involved in the program.…”

“…Research has been conducted about various aspects of peer mentoring in colleges and universities, including the experiences, benefits, and challenges of: undergraduate students (Christie, 2014;Cutright & Evans, 2016;Jacobi, 1991); underrepresented students (Shotton, Oosahwe, & Cintrón, 2007); early career faculty (Bottoms et al, 2013); underrepresented faculty (Murakami & Nuñez, 2014;Packer-Williams & Evans, 2011); peer mentoring in the online environment (Smailes & Gannon-Leary, 2011); traits and benefits of peer mentoring for mentees, and peer mentors (Booth et al, 2016;Bunting, Dye, Pinnegar, & Robinson, 2012;Colvin & Ashman, 2010;Terrion & Leonard, 2007). As previously discussed, few studies with EdD students as participants exist however (Booth et al, 2016;Noonan et al, 2007;Preston et al, 2014). In this section, we review literature related to the benefits, challenges, and experiences of mentees and mentors in peer mentoring programs in an effort add to research related to peer mentoring programs for educational doctoral students.…”

“…Second, we analyzed the perceived benefits of this program based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from the mentees to develop a better understanding of students' needs and support options available to successfully complete the EdD program. Scholars have investigated the characteristics, benefits, challenges, and learning of mentors in peer mentoring programs (Booth, Merga, & Mat Roni, 2016;Christie, 2014;Colvin & Ashman, 2010;Lowery, Geesa, & McConnell, 2018;Terrion & Leonard, 2007), but limited research about peer mentoring programs for education doctoral students exists. As the purpose of this study was to understand how mentees were supported in the first year of an education doctoral peer mentoring program that was designed to support their success, we did not include mentor perspectives.…”

The Interpretivist and The Learner

“…It has been seen, for example, to explore the benefits of peer-mentoring (Booth, Merga, & Mat Roni, 2016) and to unpack issues on academic identity (Hamood, 2016). There are also precedents for using autoethongraphy and poetry for researcher inquiry (Blinne, 2010, Ellis, 2004, Maurino, 2016; however, very few scholarly articles can be found of doctoral students adopting autoethnography and poetry to examine self during studies.…”