The Extended Induction in Psychology: Supporting Transition through Peer-mentoring

1. The Extended Induction in Psychology: Supporting Transition through Peer-mentoring Dr Patrick Rosenkranz Stage 1 Director Psychology

2. Overview • Background • Extended induction • Evaluation • Conclusion

3. Transition Crucial period for students : • Retention • Satisfaction (Tinto, 1997; Bousted & May, 2003; Forbes, 2008)

4. Transition: Challenges • Expectations at university are very different from school. • Students are overwhelmed with information in induction week. • Large lecture classes don’t make for easy social integration with peers on course. Extended induction

5. Why peer -mentors? • Small-group teaching (SGT) is an effective and desirable aspect of degree (Bennet et al., 2002; Lantz, 2008). • Peer-learning: mentees benefit from the experience of senior students. • Graduate skills: mentors develop important skills such as team-leading and communication.

6. Aims of the Extended Induction • Supporting transition from school to university • Creating peer groups that support learning • Guidance in academic skills

7. Stage 3: Recruitment of mentors 10 Mentors Stage 3 cohort • Recruitment on a voluntary basis • Emphasis on development of graduate skills • Rewards: Book tokens, salary

8. Stage 1: Each student is assigned a mentor group 100 Stage 1 students = 10 groups of 10 students

9. Nested Mentoring Stage 1 Director Stage 3 Mentors Stage 1 Mentees

11. Evaluation Data collected: • Attendance • Student survey • Mentor survey

12. Attendance

13. Mentees: Please rate the Extended Induction. (1=Low rating, 5= High Rating) Frequency Rating n=74 Mean = 3.76 SD =0.89

14. Comments from mentees “Introducing us to others in the course in order to form study groups was very useful as this has carried on with certain group members. Helped to settle in quickly and feel confident that there was a contact on the course when everything was hectic to begin with. Library session was very helpful but should have been done earlier on in term (second week possibly) Small group of people so made it easy to ask lots of questions and felt fairly comfortable talking in front of everyone.”

15. Comments from mentees “Some aspects I did not find particularly helpful, and so I would have found it better if there had been a timetable of what would be covered in the meetings, so that I could have chosen whether to go or not based on what was covered..” “Did not really find it useful, as nobody really had any questions, and seemed like we were covering things that nobody was interested in knowing about.”

16. Please rate your overall experience as a mentor on the Extended Induction. Frequency Rating n=10 Mean = 4.8 SD =0.42

17. Comments from mentors “Very rewarding, having the opportunity to pass on important information that you've acquired, and emphasising the importance of some things that I was never told were important - e.g. volunteering, first year marks..” “The students that took advantage of the mentoring seemed to really enjoy it and appreciate our input. I think it was good for them to have a personal contact other than an academic - a few of my mentees contacted me outside of the sessions. I thought it was a good way for them to get to know more people.”

18. Comments from mentors “They treat you a bit like a lecturer/teacher, I would have preferred if they treated me just like a student like them. For example, they may say that the experience has been useful to you because they think that is what you want to hear but they may not mean it.” “Enthusiasm and participation decreased after first few sessions. mentees tended to sit and listen to me going through PowerPoint and didn't have many questions or comments. I would have felt the sessions would have been better on a more interactive basis with the mentees giving input too.”

19. Aims

20. Conclusions • Generally positive reception of Extended Induction. • Students value the social integration into degree course and creation of a peer support network. • Mentors appreciate the opportunity to develop their communication skills and to pass on their experience. • Academic skills training needs further development.

21. Challenges • How can attendance/relevance to students be improved? • Improving the training in academic skills. • Groups are too large ( approx. 10 ).

22. Directions • Peer groups persist in module tutorials • 2010/11: Mentoring will be embedded in stage 1 module = Psychological enquiry • 2011/12: Psychology Learning and Teaching Stage 3 module.

23. Thanks for listening ! Acknowledgements: This project was supported through an UTLC strategic fund and is part of a larger project in collaboration with the School of Biomedical Science, Newcastle University. Thanks go to colleagues in the School of Psychology for their continuing support an involvement in the scheme. Special thanks to Gabi Jordan and Tom Smulders for getting the ball rolling.

24. Bennet, C., Howe, C., & Truswell, E. (2002). Small group teaching and learning in Psychology. York: LTSN Psychology. Bousted , M. and May, S. (2003). Shall I stay or shall I go: students who leave Kingston University in semester one. Educational Developments, 4.2, SEDA Lantz, C. (2008). Psychology teaching: Working with small groups. Higher Education Academy Psychology Network. Forbes, A. (2008). A new retention model. Higher Education Academy Annual Conference, Harrogate, July2008. Tinto, V. (1997). Colleges as communities: exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68 (6), 559-623.