Butterfly Power in the Art of Mentoring Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Students

This article describes the ways in which critical events in the lives of college students may contribute to their career development and personal well being. These critical events are referred to as 'butterflies', adopting as a metaphor that concept from chaos theory which states that relatively small events can have large effects. The study analyzes these events and their effects from the perspective of the students' mentors. Results of the study are related to other concepts from chaos theory including bifurcation points, autopoiesis and emergence. The study explores both the different kinds of critical events students experience as well as how mentoring may help students to deal with them. The role of the mentor as interpreter of events, as change agent and as intervener are identified. The article argues that mentors need to be aware of the potential power of critical events in the career development of college students.     

Business mentoring in evolution

The main purpose of this article is to provide information on the progress of student mentoring programmes at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Natal, Durban.

In addition, this paper highlights meaningful practical and theoretical lessons that have emerged from the mentoring programmes in the South African context.

     

Developing a Mentoring Scheme in Primary Initial Teacher Education

Researchers have shown the benefits of mentoring in both personal and professional growth. It would seem that group mentoring would only enhance those benefits. This work represents a literature review of peer-reviewed articles and dissertations that contribute to the theory and research of group mentoring. This work reviews the articles that contributed to the development of group mentoring theory as well as relevant research. Four primary types of group mentoring emerge—peer group, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many. Despite over 20 years of research, significant gaps remain in the research methods, demographic focus, and fields of study. The review concludes with recommendations for future research.     

Roles,Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education

Successful peer mentoring in university settings is the result of relationships among students, mentors, and instructors. Findings from this study indicate that even in programs where training is ongoing and established, assumptions cannot be made about the understanding of the roles, risks, and benefits involved in such relationships. This study demonstrates that students, instructors, and mentors all have different perspectives about a mentor’s role and how that role should be enacted. Connecting link, peer leader, learning coach, student advocate, and trusted friend were identified as predominant roles enacted by mentors. Also described are risks and benefits for being or having a peer mentor.     

College Women Mentoring Adolescent Girls: The Relationship between Mentor Peer Support and Mentee Outcomes

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of peer support for college women mentors who engaged in one-to-one and group mentoring with at-risk adolescent girls. Using data from 162 mentoring pairs, results suggested that mentor support positively predicted mentees’ self-reported improvement after a year of mentoring. An examination of mentees’ self-esteem outcomes revealed that mentor peer support was associated with higher outcomes only for those mentees who had higher pre-program scores; for those with below average pre-scores, mentor support was associated with lower self-esteem. Taken together, these results indicate that mentor support may serve as an important function beyond ongoing training, though its effectiveness may vary based on mentee characteristics. Implications are discussed.     

Peer relations and emotion regulation of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties with and without a developmental disorder

Children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) and those who also have developmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), can experience the same adverse consequences in their peer interactions and relationships. This present study compared the emotion regulation and peer relationships of children aged 8–12 years (M = 9.86 years, SD = 1.49) with EBD (N = 33) and children with EBD plus a diagnosed developmental disorder (N = 28). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with Bonferroni adjusted alpha levels revealed no significant main effect for emotion regulation according to EBD status. There was, however, a multivariate main effect for sex, with females presenting with higher levels of negative emotional intensity (e.g., frustration, anger, aggression) than males. A second MANOVA revealed no significant main effect for peer relationships according to EBD status and sex. Significant correlations revealed that the EBD-only group experienced greater adverse peer interactions than the EBD-plus-developmental disorder group. These findings are important for educators and researchers involved in the development and evaluation of prevention and intervention programms for children with EBD.     

The knowledge gap: examining the rhetoric and implementation of peer education for HIV prevention in Myanmar

In this paper, I report on an examination of the rhetoric and implementation of peer education in Myanmar. I demonstrate that while there was widespread consistency on interviewees' views of what peer education should involve, there was a significant gap between this rhetoric and the ways in which peer education was implemented, particularly in relation to the training of peer educators. It is my argument that this gap occurred because of failure to utilise, or even recognise, a particular form of knowledge: knowledge as phronesis, which is most commonly translated as ‘practical wisdom’ and incorporates factual, emotional and experiential knowledge. Instead, as I show, the pedagogic processes in use in peer education practice in Myanmar drew on an (unexpressed) understanding of knowledge as episteme: a form of knowledge that is facts-based, technical and presumed objective.     

Reading in pairs Network: a training model based on peer learning (pairs of teachers and school networks) for the sustainability of educational innovation / Red Leemos en pareja: un modelo de formación basado en el aprendizaje entre iguales (parejas de profesores y redes de centros) para la sostenibilidad de la innovación educativa

Abstract

This article presents a study on a Primary and Secondary Education teacher training network from Catalonia for the implementation of the Reading in pairs program. The goal is to describe, analyse, and assess the training model’s characteristics in relation to the learning promoted among participants, as well as the possibilities of actually incorporating educational innovation in the schools. The results suggest that this formative ecosystem permits a degree of learning and understanding of the program and its conceptual foundations that is relevant to the ability to implement it creatively and to adapt it to each school so that its sustainability is guaranteed.     

Cognitive load and knowledge sharing in Learning Networks

Learning Networks (LNs) are online social networks designed to support nonformal learning; they are therefore particularly suitable for self-directed learners. In LNs, learners need to construct knowledge through knowledge sharing with other participants. However, without support, learners have to organize knowledge sharing themselves and this could induce extraneous cognitive load. When working on complex learning tasks, this organizing process could have a detrimental effect on knowledge construction. To optimize cognitive load, we propose using a peer support system that applies the mechanisms of peer tutoring to support knowledge sharing. Its mechanisms reduce, we argue, the extraneous load imposed by having to organize knowledge sharing as well as induce germane load by directing the freed-up cognitive capacity to processes that contribute to knowledge construction.     

基于网络的师生协同创新作业评价系统设计

主要介绍基于网络的师生协同创新作业评价系统的设计过程。通过分析目前作业评价存在的问题,运用网络B/S架构、ASP语言和ACCESS数据技术相结合,构建出有效解决问题的评价系统。系统通过实践运用取得了良好的效果。