Student information
The peer mentoring groups enable students to get extra practice and guidance from a senior student who has already passed the particular paper. Participation in peer mentoring groups is voluntary and students can attend as many groups as they want.
Your mentors are peers who know your subject area well. This means you can ask them many questions about studying and achieving well in their area. We find that attending the groups regularly is helpful to all students, especially when they make the groups part of their weekly study routine. However, our PM Group leaders are not teachers; they are there to help you learn to use the most useful resources, lead discussions, help you review lectures, and give relevant problem solving advice. When you attend you need to come prepared to share what you know and to work with other students who will also share with you. The combined knowledge of the group often leads to a great summary of a topic or a full answer to a sample exam question.
How do the peer mentoring groups work?
Sessions start in week two of semester. You can choose when you want to attend but if you want to go to a particular session it would be best to register for that session during week one and get to the venue early. You can check out the times for your subjects here: Albany, Manawatu, and Wellington.
The group leaders for your papers also make announcements in class and post information about their sessions in Stream. You can also use Stream to tell the mentor about a particular problem or topic that you would like them to include in the discussions and activities in the following session. You can also take problems that you have struck during your independent study to a peer mentoring session.
Because the leaders have been through the paper themselves they are aware of the times when the workload of the paper increases and they will give you hints on how to cope at these busy times. Going to the peer mentoring groups helps you engage with the course material and gain more understanding along with your peers. However, these sessions complement other classes and should not be used in place of going to lectures.
Benefits of joining peer mentoring groups
Our evaluations show that students from all college who utilise group study regularly achieve a greater proportion of higher grades than students who do not. Similar programmes in universities worldwide also show the same results. Learning with and from peers has also helped prevent students from dropping out as they enjoy the more casual environment and get to know other people taking the same papers.
Massey University students report that the sessions improve their understanding of key concepts, technical vocabulary and examples, their test-taking skills, their confidence and motivation to study. They reported learning a lot about studying for the different kinds of assessments in the subject area through the repeated practice and leaders' tips. See results and student feedback for more.
