Abstract
An auditorium full of student athletes listening to advice on how to best balance academics and athletics.
A group of students attending a presentation about how to be involved in Greek life with out sacrificing their academic success.
A first-year student attending weekly meetings that discuss how to best manage her time, deal with learning issues, become a successful note taker, and effectively study for examinations.
A student browsing the handbook Excelling in Academics, which deals with issues outside of the classroom, such as alcohol use, stress, sleep, exercise, and time management, which can have a profound effect on academic performance.
None of these scenes seems too unusual until you look closely at the presenters and writers and see that they are all students.
All of these scenarios are examples of how advising can be supplemented and enhanced with a well-trained and motivated group of peer mentors. Over the last four years at Union College, we have developed a successful peer-mentoring program called Peer Assistants for Learning (PALs). Students are faced with many stressors and need help in addressing issues that may be troubling them, many of which are not academic issues. Students may perceive that faculty advising is only concerned with course advice and registration signatures. In addition, many faculty members may be uncomfortable when the conversation leaves the academic realm. This advising gap—the gap between student needs and the type of mentoring they receive—has garnered much attention and discussion—for example, in the National Academic Advising Association's Academic Advising Handbook.The disparity is more acute during students’ first two years, when they are grasping for self-identity and trying to find their passion and niche. Programs like PALs are an effective, low-cost means of helping to bridge that gap.
IN SPRING 2005, after regularly collaborating to help a number of students who required disability services and seemed caught in this gap, the two of us decided to try a peer-mentoring program: students listening to their fellow students!
We started on a shoestring budget, but with enthusiasm, belief in our project, and three terrific PALs, we were on our way. We focused on student development through individual mentoring combined with workshops for all students on topics such as time management and stress. The program hit the ground running, and we quickly needed more peer mentors to keep up with the demand. We were fortunate to receive, on the basis of on our initial successes, a $100,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation that funded three years of expanding and developing the program.
As Stephanie Budge discusses in her article in the Journal of College Reading and Learning, the key to a successful peer-mentoring program goes beyond the selection process; the most important aspect is training. We solicit applications from students with a GPA of 3.4 or higher, who must write an essay explaining why they wish to be a peer mentor. Current mentors do an initial screening to narrow the pool prior to further interviews and final selections by the director of student support services. Training is carefully planned, and peer mentors complete their training over the course of several days prior to the fall term. Each mentor is provided with a training manual that contains information on numerous topics: time management, learning styles, test taking, note taking, academic advising, and understanding various types of learning disabilities. Mentors are trained in effective communication skills through case studies and presentations, and a representative of the Counseling Center is invited to discuss the signs of depression and anxiety, what to look for, and when to ask for assistance. Training and regular supervision continue throughout the year in the form of weekly group meetings to discuss workshops and students, and to brainstorm and plan. Individual meetings occur as needed. PALs keep notes on the students they see regularly, which are posted to a confidential Blackboard site for review. They are responsible for the coordination, planning, and advertising of the workshops. Workshop attendance and evaluations are monitored by program leaders for assessment purposes.
WHAT CAN PEER MENTORS contribute that may be missing from the regular advisor-advisee interaction? Peer mentors can maintain regular and ongoing contact with their mentees throughout the term and can be more flexible and accessible than faculty members. Peer mentors can address issues that students may not wish to broach with their regular advisor, such as homesickness, roommate conflicts, test anxiety, and more. The immediacy of a peer mentor who discusses personal experiences is important, and peer mentors’ empathy and understanding can help mentees reach out for further assistance. In the terminology of Wesley Habley and Jennifer Bloom's book chapter on advising, peer mentors can fill the roles of advocate, intervener, orchestrator, dissonance mediator, boundary spanner, and cultural guide for their mentees.
At Union College, many students are offered one-on-one mentoring, including incoming students with learning challenges, students who are on academic warning or who are returning from a “dean's vacation” or leave, new international students, and students in the POSSE program, which provides a college experience at highly selective institutions for students who might normally be overlooked in the traditional admissions process. (See www.possefoundation.org for more information on this wonderful program.)
Despite common notions to the contrary, learning and academic success are not limited to mastery of classroom material. Learning independence and developing maturity and confidence are also essential. The words of mentored students speak for themselves. One mentor was described by a mentee as a “great guy, good experience with school and personal issues, which he molded to my needs.” An international first-year student who was struggling to fit in amid his new environment benefited from having “general talks about different things—the important points of college life.” He added, “I felt better about things.” In fact, he has since gone on to become senior class president.
While it is easy to focus on the students in the mentee role, we don't want to overlook the fact that participating in the PALs program is also a tremendous learning experience for the peer mentors. One example of how powerful the mentoring experience can be in developing interpersonal skills comes from a mentor who wrote, “Nowhere in my job description was it that I should kick a soccer ball around, explain American football to an exchange student, open my room up to a student who needed someone to listen, walk a depressed student to the dean's office, or study with a student at an ungodly Saturday morning hour after a long night, but these interactions demonstrate the personal attention that students receive.”
MONITORING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE HAS PRODUCED TANGIBLE EVIDENCE THAT PAL COUNSELING HELPED STUDENTS PERFORM BETTER ACADEMICALLY.
The following case study, excerpted from the notes that PALs keep on their students, is also revealing. (Such case studies are a part of our effort to continually assess and modify the program.)
John participated in PALs his first year. He had significant learning disabilities and it was evident that Union's curriculum would be very challenging and that his progress would be gradual. As his mentor, I advised him in a variety of areas and closely tracked him. During the fall, we focused on establishing an organized study schedule and personalized study techniques. John's first trimester was characterized by both success and failure. He clearly worked very hard and he excelled socially. Nevertheless, John's grades did not reflect his hard work and dedication. With a 1.9 GPA, John had a very hard time adjusting to college level examinations. He performed well in class and on papers, but had significant memory retention issues, especially on exams. We met nearly every week throughout the winter and spring working on study skills and note taking.
John continued with PALs his sophomore year. By winter term he recorded a 2.9 GPA, has arrived at a major that he feels comfortable with and, partly due to a letter we were able to write on his behalf, was accepted for Study Abroad, although on paper he did not have the requisite GPA. Studying abroad was a goal since his arrival at Union. One can sense that he is beginning to have a positive outlook for his last two years.
John's reaction to his acceptance: “Thank you so much for everything! It means a great deal to me. Today I was accepted into my choice of study abroad and am very excited by it. This wouldn't have been possible without all the help.”
BESIDES the one-on-one interaction between PALs and their mentees, the second focus of our program is providing workshops for the student body. The topics of these workshops have been selected with an eye toward issues that students struggle with, and some have been suggested and developed by the mentors themselves. Certain workshops, such as Lab Sciences, Writing Papers/Essays, and Reading Strategies, directly address the classroom experience of students and are presented by faculty members, whereas others address areas of learning and student success that take place outside of class—for example, Test Taking/Test Anxiety, Time Management, and Study Skills/Note Taking. Many of these are run by the PALs themselves, utilizing their experiences as successful students. Student response to both types of workshops has been positive. One international student said, “I think I can now become a more effective reader.” Another who had been struggling commented, “This helped with organizing my time and managing my course work.”
Some workshops are specialized, such as the ones mentioned earlier for athletes and students interested in Greek life. Workshops are also offered for students who wish to apply for Study Abroad. These three drew well over 100 students each at a school of 2,100. Students’ learning from their peers can be powerful. For example, it is documented that student athletes tend to struggle academically during their first year more than other students. Being aware of the challenges they may face and being provided with strategies for success by fellow athletes in their first week helps them adjust. The associate director of athletics commented, “The PALs did a terrific job of planning, reviewing and presenting to about 175 athletes! Their PowerPoint was concise and informative, and the ‘pop-quiz’ segments were fun! You could tell the students were listening.”
HOW DO WE KNOW that the program is actu-ally making a difference? We use our weekly PALs meetings and individual case reports, as well as monitoring of e-mail contacts and workshop attendance and evaluations to gauge the success of the program and modify our strategies. For example, we use the feedback and successful experiences from workshops to decide how to revise them or whether to continue offering them, and we use the reports and e-mails to determine what one-on-one strategies are working best.
We also monitor academic performance, although not as systematically as we would like to. We do try to track the progress of students on academic warning. This monitoring has produced tangible evidence that PAL counseling helped students perform better academically. In our most recent assessment, after fall term, fifteen out of twenty-nine first-year students on warning took advantage of PALs. Of these students, fourteen (93 percent) improved their GPA; the average increase was almost a full letter grade. Clearly, we are doing something right. Of the students who did not participate, less than half showed improvement and, in fact, five are no longer at Union. Would they still be if they had chosen a PAL? We can't know for sure. And of course, as John's case shows, performing better cannot necessarily be quantified merely by GPA or staying off academic probation, so it is imperative that we pay attention to what students are telling us about their success.
ALTHOUGH we have had some significant success stories, the development of the program has not been without its challenges. The two most significant challenges are (1) the role of faculty in the program and (2) outreach, publicity, and campus buy-in. After some experimentation, we arrived at the idea of having one “super advisor,” a faculty member with a great deal of advising and mentoring experience who understands student development issues and the affective as well as academic needs of students. This person must have the interest, ability, and time to work with PALs and their mentees as needed and help them with complicated advising issues. We also call on faculty members from across campus to share their expertise and assist with our workshops.
Getting a new program off the ground, developing a positive reputation, and ensuring that people on campus understand its goals and services is not easy. The key is persistence, persistence, persistence! It helped that one of us was the dean of studies and therefore had a certain platform from which to promote the program to our colleagues in academic affairs. We have also invested a lot of time in publicity and advertising. Although we have dealt with the all-too-common setbacks of people not showing up, not making headway with certain ideas, or logistical problems, each year has seen more buy-in. Our workshops attracted more than 600 students this fall. We have made more visits to first-year seminar classes and received invitations to do workshops. We have let the PALs take the primary role in planning workshops and getting the word out. Our goal has always been to reach the maximum number of students in need of program services. The key has been finding the right approach to reach it.
The term of funding from our Mellon grant has concluded, and the economic downturn has affected Union College much like every other school. However, the college is very cognizant of the benefits of the PALs program and made an effort to come up with new funding. The program will continue next year in a modified and reduced form, under new leadership from someone who has time to focus on it. The modified version of the PALs program will have a reduced number of mentors but will retain the main features of the one-on-one nurturing of students and the workshops, although there may be fewer workshops. This turn of events, an effect of the sluggish economy, indicates that even highly successful ventures are not immune to the difficulties we all currently face—a sobering and important message.