eportfolio meets peer mentoring
TRANSCRIPT
ePortfolio Meets Peer MentoringMatt Lewis & Emma Shelefka
Mercy College
AAEEBL Conference - Thursday, July 31, 2014
New York metropolitan area minority-serving institution
11,000 students on four campus locations
90+ graduate and undergraduate programs (and Online)
Small Classes: 70% of classes have fewer than 22 students
Approximately 200 full-time faculty, 600 visiting, professional and adjunct faculty
Affordable, private, not-for-profit institution (~$16K/year)
Mission to “Provide motivated students the opportunity to transform their lives through higher education”
Mercy’s PACT (Personalized Achievement Contract) program mentors students to persistence and success.
Mercy College - Fast Facts
Peer Mentoring Activity (one of several in grant)
STEM students - transfer students & freshmen (all welcomed)
Last summer 11 peer mentors went to 3 trainings
Leadership, career services, communication, and basic tutoring “do’s and don’ts”
Created handbook on strengths in relation to their career goals
Total of 97 mentees
Step Up to STEM
“Being a mentor is great; you get to meet new people and help out
other students.”
- Peer Mentor Reflection
11 peer mentors for 2013-2014
10 peer mentors for 2014-2015
Undergraduates studying:
Psychology
Computer Science
Physicians Assistants
Vet Tech
Biology
Health Science OT/PT
Who are the Peer Mentors?
Mentor Training - June 2014
Peer mentors complete bi-weekly ePortfolio tasks
Submitted for assessment to ensure compliance with the goals of the program
Wish to see students developing portfolios on their own
Peer mentors will share their work and articulate the benefits with mentees
Project Summary
Leadership Demonstrate greater leadership skills
Professional Development Exhibit greater knowledge of degree and career options
and share it with mentees
Personal Development Apply the interpersonal skills learned through their
training and interactions
Peer Mentor Program Learning Outcomes
One student reflected about journaling in the folio:
“Writing in the efolio was helpful to me. By documenting what we [Mentor/Mentee] spoke about, I can quickly and easily use these references as a refresher to remember specific details… [to use for research or for our next meeting with mentee].”
Success & Challenges
“I liked how I could easily look at other mentors work and compare experiences. Then when we’d meet as a group I could ask them about it.”
“The Digication folio was great, it helped me to reflect on what I was doing. See progress over the year in how I was helping my mentees.”
“This is great, because I can use what I create for a folio to apply to Grad school or a job.”
Success & Challenges
Half the mentors created folios on their own
Biggest Challenge – TIME!
Full-time students, working full- part-time jobs
3 wrote about having children
How do we manage the work?
Success & Challenges
Revising the implementation to address:
Streamlining the entries
Move Away from “Wiki-Folio Hybrid”
More Creativity!
Future Steps
Questions? Matt LewisSenior Instructional Designer
Mercy College555 BroadwayDobbs Ferry, NY 10522
(p) 914.674.7863