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Hi Melissa, I wonder if the perspective on using student support is a regional one? When I was a student in South Africa, I earned a good deal of money as a student tutor - in a scheme that was widely used in the university. I have read quite a lot of research from the States in which they refer to the use of undergraduate and postgraduate tutors, and yet when I have suggested the idea at the university I now work at in the UK, they are positively horrified by the idea. I think that there are a whole lot of benefits, not least of which is that of cost to the university. Ruth > Hello Hugh, > > Thank you for the descriptive email. I am interested in extending our > mentioning program further than supporting first year students under the > umbrella of "sense of belonging". Mentors need to cross into > course/learning support although I believe that this may be an > interesting challenge to consider as their is a reluctance to allow > students to be engaged in supporting students academically at our > university - regardless that student do it informally and in group work > situations. I would be interested to see how you have been able to > formulate support for PAL - its an obvious progress for us - my next > challenge! > > I will contact Sandie and if I can, will be grateful for a meet and > great at your campus. > > Regards, > > Melissa Staley > Student Learning Support Co-ordinator > Student Services > University of Ballarat > Phone: 03 5327 9378 > > >>>> [log in to unmask] 03/11/05 10:50 pm >>> > Hello Melissa > > As you will have seen from my colleague Alison Green's response, at > Bournemouth University our Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme forms > part of the range of activities covered by Learning Support. Learning > Support also covers staff development, e-learning, study support and > additional learning needs so it is a very diverse unit. > > Our PAL scheme uses trained year 2 undergraduate students (PAL Leaders) > to facilitate weekly study support sessions for groups of first year > students from the same course. Group size is similar to your scheme > i.e. 15-20 students. PAL sessions are intended to offer a friendly > environment to help students in 5 areas: adjust quickly to university > life; acquire a clear view of course direction and expectations; improve > their study habits; enhance their understanding of the subject matter of > their course through collaborative group discussion; and, prepare better > for assessed work and examinations. > > In our evaluations we have received some very positive feedback from > first year students. They are very positive on the five areas listed > above and also point out the value of obtaining a second year student's > perspective on the course. They also like the opportunity PAL offers > them to discuss a range of issues in a supportive environment away from > teaching staff. Many like the co-operative aspects, though some don't > like it at all. > > We also offer our PAL Leaders an opportunity to gain some accreditation > for their work via the Open College Network. Assessment is based upon a > portfolio of evidence. > > The scheme has grown steadily over the past 4 years to the point where > it is becoming something of a challenge to resource the support > necessary for further growth. This year we have c.75 PAL Leaders > supporting c. 1100 first year undergraduates. Next year may well see > the size of the scheme increase to c.110 PAL Leaders supporting c.1,650 > first years and we have tapped into some Centre of Excellence funding to > resource this. > > You may wish to make contact with Sandie Rudman at Macquarie University > who has similar interests to you ([log in to unmask]). I think > she is also coming to the First Year Conference at Southampton. As > Bournemouth is very near Southampton, Sandie may well be visiting me > before/after the conference to discuss PAL and you are very welcome to > come too. Please contact me directly if you wish to pay us a visit - my > email address plus link to the PAL web site at below. > > I hope this helps > > Hugh > > Hugh Fleming > Senior Lecturer & Learner Support Tutor > (Peer Assisted Learning and Student Development) > Academic Services > Bournemouth University > Talbot Campus > Fern Barrow > Poole > Dorset BH12 5BB > Telephone External: (01202) 965480 > Telephone Internal: 65480 > Email: [log in to unmask] > PAL Web Site: www.peerlearning.ac.uk > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: learning development in higher education network > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Melissa Staley > Sent: 10 March 2005 22:56 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Transition & Mentor Programs - I'm new! > > > Hi all, > > I am introducing myself as a long distance member. I am currently > coordinating a Learning Support service at the University of Ballarat, > Australia. I have been in the position for 12 months and boy has it > been > an amazing 12 months! Learning Support in our university is very > heavily > linked with a transition/retention program - infact we are central to > its > development and implementation - however this is coming at the expense > of > Learning Support! Are other members experiencing this? > > Something that has work for us this year, is a uni wide student mentor > program which has seen all (1100) first year students receive > transitional > support (Focus ="sense of belonging") from a fellow student. We have > assigned older students to groups of 15 - 20 new students. We are in > our > 4th week of the program and the support and success has been > immeasurable. > Coordinating the program across the entire university has been at > times > tricky to say the least but it is working. First year lecturers are > reporting less transitional concerns amongst students and learning > support > has seen a drop in transitional issue appointments. I am really > interested > in finding out if other universities have successful mentor programs > and > how linked are they to Learning Support? I am hoping to attend the > first > year conference in South Hampton in July and was also hoping to meet > with > other "Learning Support" people and people involved in transition > program. > > This e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and > may contain confidential information. If you have received this e-mail > in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail, which must > not be copied, distributed or disclosed to any other person. > Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do > not necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University. Nor can any > contract be formed on the University's behalf via e-mail. > -- Ruth Brown Academic Developer Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit London South Bank University [log in to unmask] +44 20 7815 7804