Other Peoples Writing Peer Mentoring for Academic Writing

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Other Peoples Writing Peer Mentoring for
Academic Writing
Christine Hardy and Ed Foster
10th Annual Learning and Teaching ConferenceISSN
1758-6143
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Student Academic Writing

• Given time constraints
• Taken as a given that there are problems with
  students academic writing
• Changing nature of writing in school FE
• Greater diversity in student intake
• Higher numbers lower staff/ student ratios
• Increasing use of alt formats for comms
• Has consequences for learners
• In extreme cases this includes retention

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Question

• In small groups, please consider the different
  types of writing students undertaking an
  undergraduate programme are asked to do
• 2 minutes
• Prizes for the longest (legitimate) list

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At least 64 different types of writing, including

• - Essay - Reflective journal
• - Examination essay - Log book
• - Final year undergraduate - Film Script
• - Dissertation - Technical report
• - Literature review - PDP
• - Précis - Art/design critique
• - OHP/PowerPoint slides - CV
• - Handouts - Annotated bibliography
• - Report - Book review
• - Poster text - Case study
• - Work placement log - Business plan
• - Performance review - Popular article
• - Written material to support
• - visual work

(Ganobcsik- Williams, 2004)
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Approaches to developing writing

• Generic Writing Courses
• Often part of 1st year skills/ professional
  modules
• Teaching Writing in the Disciplines (WID)
• Reflecting on the discipline-specific nature of
  academic writing
• Study Support/Study Skills Tutoring
• Central/ School/ faculty based
• Computerised Support for Student Writing
• Usually tests and exemplars, some experiments in
  feedback
• Dedicated one-to-one tutoring in academic writing
• by an academic
• by a specialist non-academic
• Provided by an external source
• Peer mentoring

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Peer Mentoring

• Mentoring is the relationship between a less
  experienced person and a more experienced partner
  who guides and supports them
• Falchikov (2001)
• Originates from US, Supplemental Instruction (SI)
• Originally for students on demanding subjects
  with high failure rates
• Well integrated into programmes of study in which
  SI sessions follow the curriculum, providing
  structured revision/ reflection
• Sporadic use in UK
• Most significant impact at Bournemouth
• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) http//pal.bournemout
  h.ac.uk/
• In CADBE
• Postgraduate students helping undergraduates with
  academic writing

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Academic Writing Mentoring in CADBE

• All mentors are
• - Postgraduate students
• Recruited and selected
• Trained
• Supported
• All mentors worked in pairs

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Recruitment and Training

• Job Description and Personnel Specification
• The interview
• Training day
• Reflected on own writing experience
• Reviewed sample essays
• Discussed boundaries and limitations
• Support for the mentors
• Learning Teaching Officer (Academic Writing)
  sat in once a week to discuss issues and
  challenges with mentors
• Discussed problems with school staff

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Marketing the scheme

• Marketing to undergraduate students
• Posters
• Emails
• Over time, increasingly through academic staff

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Managing the process

• Timetabling/scheduling venue
• Hard-to-find rooms
• Working across two schools
• Employment and payment issues
• Administratively burdensome
• Staff engagement in the scheme and embedding
  within the College
• Needed much greater level of buy-in from staff

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Lessons learnt

• Feedback from colleagues
• Students who used service were positive about the
  experience
• But its not an easy option
• Recruiting mentors and training relatively easy
  to facilitate
• Requires relatively high levels of administrative
  support (timetabling pay)
• Unless embedded as normal, hard to get
  undergraduate engagement
• Mentors need information from subject tutors
• Mentors (video)
• Some thoughts from two of the student mentors
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v9FQIA7mwRFU