EDUC1231 - Week Three - Peer Mentoring

An evaluation of the first year of our B.Ed. program indicated that our students perceive that they are actively and collaboratively involved in their learning with the exception of peer tutoring.

To address this issue. a learning activity was designed for the EDUC1231 course in order to experientially introduce students to the concept of peer tutoring.  The supervisor and coordinator of the MRU's Peer Tutoring Program, Sarah Rude and Linda Strangward, were invited to facilitate an in-class workshop on peer tutoring for the students.  The students are now required to conduct a peer tutoring activity in their field-based experience through conversations with their K to 12 mentor teachers, which will result in a reflective journal entry about the process. It is also hoped that this activity will encourage the education students to become more activity involved in the university’s peer tutoring (http://tinyurl.com/mrupeertutor) and student technician and resource tutor programs (http://www.mtroyal.ca/start/), which provide paid employment opportunities.

In addition, a draft of the university’s new strategic plan recommends enhancing peer-to-peer programs and services such as peer tutoring (Mount Royal University, 2012a). In order to support this recommendation a new additional staff member has recently been hired for the peer tutoring program.