Other People’s Writing
Peer Mentoring for Academic Writing
Christine Hardy and Ed Foster
Student Academic Writing
• Given time constraints
• Taken as a given that there are problems with students’ academic
writing
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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:
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Essay
Examination essay
Final year undergraduate
Dissertation
Literature review
Précis
OHP/PowerPoint slides
Handouts
Report
Poster text
Work placement log
Performance review
Written material to support
visual work
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Reflective journal
Log book
Film Script
Technical report
PDP
Art/design critique
CV
Annotated bibliography
Book review
Case study
Business plan
Popular article
(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
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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.bournemouth.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
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But it’s 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?v=9FQIA7mwRFU
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