Student Peer Mentoring Symposium Sharing Best Practice Thursday 2 May 2012 Sir Colin Campbell Building 9.45 10.00 Registration 10.00 Introduction by Wyn Morgan Introduction to the day 10.10 Keynote Dr Jane Andrews, Aston University Keynote Speech 11.00-12.30 Morning Workshops Descriptions below Workshop 1 Peer Mentoring supporting transition This workshop will present and explore how peer mentoring can support student transition into and throughout university life. Three presenters will outline their experiences of managing a peer mentoring scheme that is designed to support the theme of transition in some form. Through feedback and discussion participants will have the opportunity to consider how peer mentoring could support student transition in their own areas. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop Chair: Vicky Mann Dr Sarah Browne, Teaching Associate, Department of History Ningbo Student Mentoring: The Benefits and Challenges of Providing Support for Transition. Every year the Department of History at the University of Nottingham welcomes a large group of students from the International Studies Division at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus. In order to provide the students with support for this transition and also to encourage our home students to benefit from this cross-cultural exchange, we run a mentoring programme (established in 2010). This presentation and workshop will discuss some of the benefits and challenges of this programme and will also describe the ways in which it has been expanded, built upon and transformed into a Nottingham Advantage Award module. While this programme has been very successful and has produced a number of benefits, it has also faced some challenges including in terms of administration and training. This workshop will consider this example in order to draw conclusions about the best way to successfully organise and run a mentoring programme which also focuses on internationalisation and employability. Professor Pip Logan, Professor of Rehabilitation Research, School of Community Health Sciences This presentation will focus upon a planned academic mentoring scheme within the Medical Faculty. The academic mentoring scheme will facilitate academics to mentor clinicians returning to undertake postgraduate courses. Having recently been awarded
funding to develop the scheme, this presentation will focus upon the planning stages of the scheme, why the peer mentoring programme was deemed appropriate, the rationale and feedback to date. Dr Marion Leducq, Lecturer and Lead for Student Retention, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy In 2012, the Division of Nursing funded a peer mentoring project as part of the School s student retention strategy. Based on the evidence base and recommendations from the What Works? Student Retention & Success Programme (funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation), the programme was designed and implemented to support new students through the key transitions into university life and during the first semester. The programme, which is managed by a project researcher, provides peer mentors with training, on-line learning and the opportunity to complete the Nottingham Advantage Award module, Peer Mentoring for Nursing Students. Now in its second year, the development and success of the programme has surpassed our expectations. This presentation will discuss the nature of the transition support involved and examples of the professional and graduate attributes demonstrated by the peer mentors themselves. Workshop 2 - Implementation & delivery of peer mentoring schemes This workshop will present and explore the challenges and opportunities in developing and implementing a peer mentoring scheme. Three presenters will outline their own experiences and participants will then be invited to discuss implementation and delivery of peer mentoring as relative to their own department. Through feedback and discussion participants will have the opportunity to consider how peer mentoring could be implemented in their own areas. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop Chair: Claire Mann Edward Forth Student Mentor and Committee member of the University of Nottingham Law School Mentoring Committee The University of Nottingham School of Law Mentoring Committee (UNSLMC) was setup in 2012 as a student-led mentoring initiative. It is the first fully student-led mentoring initiative in UK law schools to-date and so far has generated a lot of interest from UK law firms seeking to sponsor and arrange events with the committee. The committee prides itself on its success as a grass roots committee delivering services that meet the exact needs of each student within the law school. This session will cover some of the issues involved with implementing a mentoring scheme, including establishing scope and benefits, to promotion and organisation of events through to planning and evaluation. Dr Gabriele Neher Director of Teaching, School of Humanities This workshop seeks to look at schemes where senior students in the Department of Art History (from Year 2 and above) have acted as peer mentors to incoming Year One students. This workshop will look at ways of facilitating the transition of students from School to University via mentoring, at the same time as presenting established students with important opportunities and additional experiences. Claire Mann - Peer Mentoring Project Researcher, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy In 2012 the Division of Nursing funded a peer mentoring project as part of the School s student retention strategy. Based on the evidence base and recommendations from the
What Works? Student Retention & Success Programme (funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation), the programme was designed and implemented to support new students through the key transitions into university life. In its pilot phase, 70 new students were match to 26 mentors. The scheme was a great success and in September 2012 it was rolled out to match more than 400 new students to 91 peer mentors. The presentation reports on some of the key benefits, challenges and lessons learned so far in implementing and managing this peer mentoring scheme. Workshop 3 Peer assisted learning Peer assisted learning is used to varying degrees across the university and provides a mechanism via which the role of peers can enhance student learning. Three UoN presenters plus a presenter from University of Birmingham experienced in this field will share their experiences of peer assisted learning in both formal and informal learning environments. Participants will then have the opportunity to discuss the benefits and challenges of peer assisted learning. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop Chair: Laura Higgins Rachel Wood, Skills Development Manager and Gale Dawson, PASS Strategic Lead, Academic Skills Centre, University of Birmingham In 2009, the University of Birmingham set up a small pilot to trial PASS: Peer Assisted Study Sessions. Since then the scheme has expanded and now exists in 4 of the 5 Colleges across the University. On average, 120 PASS Leaders are trained each year. This session will cover a brief overview of PASS, how it was developed, the benefits and challenges and how PASS is linked to other strategies and initiatives at Birmingham. Dr Naomi Booth, Dr Richard Lea and Dr Wendela Wapenaar, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science The School of Veterinary Medicine and Science has introduced two (PAL) initiatives; peer facilitation of problem orientated learning sessions and peer tutoring of selected practical classes. In both situations volunteer year 4 students have acted as peer tutors to year 2 students, possible due to vertical course integration. Follow the success of pilot programmes, the initiative has been widened to offer more students the opportunity for involvement, across a wider range of sessions. This year, for the first time, a whole practical class rotating through 4 different stations was run using PAL. This presentation will outline our experiences of running two contrasting PAL initiatives as well as considering best practice and the challenges in organising and running PAL programmes. Carol Hollier, Senior Information Assistant, Hallward Library This presentation will describe the development of a Nottingham Advantage Award module, Learning Resource Leaders for the George Green Library. Learning Resource Leaders grew out of an HE STEM funded pilot developed jointly by Loughborough University and the University of Nottingham. The pilot aimed to find a sustainable model for motivating science and engineering students to work as library ambassadors. The students are asked to identify simple library issues to champion, and then asked to promote those issues to their peers in creative ways. The workshop will focus on successes and challenges, future plans, and the impact making the scheme a Nottingham Advantage module has had on recruitment, motivation, and sustainability.
1.30-3.00pm Afternoon Workshops Descriptions below Workshop 4 Peer Mentoring supporting transition This workshop will present and explore how peer mentoring can support student transition into and throughout university life. Three presenters will outline their experiences of managing a peer mentoring scheme that is designed to support the theme of transition in some form. Through feedback and discussion participants will have the opportunity to consider how peer mentoring could work to support student transition in their own areas. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop Chair: Dr Marion Leducq Rachel Jessop, International Office, Study Abroad Peer Advisors The Peer Advisor programme has been run by the International Office for three years. The Peer Advisors promote study abroad opportunities to current students throughout The University of Nottingham community, and work with students who have applied to study abroad to help prepare them. The Peer Advisors also provide support for incoming study abroad and exchange students at key events on their arrival in Nottingham. This presentation will cover the reasons why I felt the Peer Advisor programme was necessary, how the programme works in practice and how the Peer Advisor programme for study abroad could perhaps be considered by academic schools in the future. Jackie Andrews, Nottingham University Business School This presentation will focus on a pilot scheme within the Business School that was developed last year. It will focus on the challenges and benefits of peer mentoring and how the scheme is being considered for development in the future. Catherine Moore, Division of Physiotherapy. Peer mentoring within the Division of Physiotherapy Education was started in September 2012. Students from the Division of Physiotherapy Education will discuss their experiences of setting up a peer mentoring scheme. The presentation will include background to why the scheme was started, the process of setting it up, the successes and pitfalls of the scheme and the potential developments for the future. Workshop 5 - Implementation & delivery of peer mentoring schemes This workshop will present and explore the challenges and opportunities in developing and implementing a peer mentoring scheme. Three presenters will outline their experiences of managing a peer mentoring scheme. Through feedback and discussion participants will have the opportunity to consider how peer mentoring could work in their own areas. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop chair: Claire Mann Edward Forth Student Mentor and Committee Member - University of
Nottingham Law School Mentoring Committee The University of Nottingham School of Law Mentoring Committee (UNSLMC) was set up in 2012 as a student-led mentoring initiative. It is the first fully student-led mentoring initiative in UK law schools to-date and so far has generated a lot of interest from UK law firms seeking to sponsor and arrange events with the committee. The committee prides itself on its success as a grass roots committee delivering services that meet the exact needs of each student within the law school. This session will cover some of the issues involved with implementing a mentoring scheme, including establishing scope and benefits, to promotion and organisation of events through to planning and evaluation. Claire Mann, Peer Mentoring Project Researcher, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy In 2012 the Division of Nursing funded a peer mentoring project as part of the School s student retention strategy. Based on the evidence base and recommendations from the What Works? Student Retention & Success Programme (funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation), the programme was designed and implemented to support new students through the key transitions into university life. In its pilot phase, 70 new students were match to 26 mentors. The scheme was a great success and in September 2012 it was rolled out to match more than 400 new students to 91 peer mentors. The presentation reports on some of the key benefits, challenges and lessons learned so far in implementing and managing this peer mentoring scheme. Dr Gabriele Neher, Department of Art History This workshop seeks to look at schemes where senior students in the Department of Art History (from Year 2 and above) have acted as peer mentors to incoming Year One students. This workshop will look at ways of facilitating the transition of students from School to University via mentoring, at the same time as presenting established students with important opportunities and additional experiences. Workshop 6 Peer assisted learning Peer assisted learning is used to varying degrees across the university and provides a mechanism via which the role of peers can enhance student learning. Three UoN presenters plus a presenter from University of Birmingham experienced in this field will share their experiences of peer assisted learning in both formal and informal learning environments. Participants will then have the opportunity to discuss the benefits and challenges of peer assisted learning. Delegates are invited to submit questions for consideration in the session in advance to peermentoring@nottingham.ac.uk Workshop Chair: Laura Higgins Rachel Wood, Skills Development Manager and Gale Dawson, PASS Academic Lead, Academic Skills Centre, University of Birmingham In 2009, the University of Birmingham set up a small pilot to trial PASS: Peer Assisted Study Sessions. Since then the scheme has expanded and now exists in 4 of the 5 Colleges across the University. On average, 120 PASS Leaders are trained each year. This session will cover a brief overview of PASS, how it was developed, the benefits and challenges and how PASS is linked to other strategies and initiatives at Birmingham.
Richard Pitt, Associate Professor, Centre for Interprofessional Education and Learning (CIEL), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Since 2009 CIEL has been embedding interprofessional learning within the curricula of dietetics, medicine, midwifery, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy. In the first year a module of face-to-face and on-line participation in exploring professionalism engages over 1000 undergraduate students in learning sets of 10-12 students. The rationale for a set to be together is to work on the future action and support the learning of each individual set member (McGill & Beaty 2001). This meets the Centre for Interprofessional Education and Learning definition of IPL where two or more professionals, student or qualified, learn about, with and from each other meaningfully to work together in the delivery of quality health and social care. It is considered that the outcome of the project is potentially a valuable contribution to IPL pedagogy as well as student experience and learning. To recruit sufficient facilitators in 2010 we developed a programme of peer facilitation. Peer facilitators undertook a half day workshop and CIEL provided support and guidance for peer mentoring students during the process and evaluated the outcome through focus groups and questionnaires. Peer facilitators were encouraged to reflect on their own learning experience and that of facilitating a learning set. Students tend to be very positive about input from peer mentors, possibly as learning feels less formal and the learning environment is less threatening without the presence of academic staff (Hayler, 1999). The presentation will share peer facilitator experience and developments to date. Dr Naomi Booth, Dr Richard Lea and Dr Wendela Wapenaar, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science The School of Veterinary Medicine and Science has introduced two (PAL) initiatives; peer facilitation of problem orientated learning sessions and peer tutoring of selected practical classes. In both situations volunteer year 4 students have acted as peer tutors to year 2 students, possible due to vertical course integration. Follow the success of pilot programmes, the initiative has been widened to offer more students the opportunity for involvement, across a wider range of sessions. This year, for the first time, a whole practical class rotating through 4 different stations was run using PAL. This presentation will outline our experiences of running two contrasting PAL initiatives as well as considering best practice and the challenges in organising and running PAL programmes. Presenter 4 Wendy Stanton, Faculty team leader, Greenfield Medical Library This Workshop will describe the development of a pilot module to train students to become Information Literacy Advocates who will provide peer support to fellow students to enable them to develop the knowledge and skills essential for information literacy. Students are expected to provide support to the new intake of students enrolled on the Graduate Nurse Curriculum. The presentation will concentrate on our different experience of recruiting Nursing and Midwifery students from Nottingham and Foundations in Health Care Science course students based at Derby. 3.00-3.30 Q & A Panel
4.00pm Close