Instructors are assigned as Advisors (Mentors) in the first week or two that a student starts. We are to follow them with interaction at least once every six weeks. This also includes the time when they are off campus completing their externship. It has helped with retention a great deal. If a student forms a bond with a different instructor and wishes to change to that instructor as their assigned Advisor they may do so.
The only problem we have run into is that a few instructors maybe do not know how to be an Advisor/Mentor or do not want to be one. That does not happen that often as the industry we are in has a truly fosters a mentoring aspect.
FERPA guidelines being met is cruciasl in Peer Tutoring. Again, training and desire to be a mentor is the key. But you cannot just turn the Peer tutors loose on the student body, so to speak, you must be sure they are properly trained and prepared. Then the program must be consistently and thououghly monitored to insure that all requirements are being met.
The idea is to identify students who love your school and students who are respected. Them, have students talk to each other about the school. Student to students add evidence to what is being said. Be careful with FERPA. The idea is to answer questions with who says so, besides the school. A student will be more prone to believe what other students are saying.
Dr. Banks
What a wonderful idea! And the Peer Tutor is acknowledged on their badges and transcripts...would love to find out more about Peer Tutoring.
Not to overlook having more advanced successful students volunteer to mentor the newer students....it's important to make certain that mentor doesn't mean tutor.
Bob
Our school has talked about a mentoring program, but nothing in motion.
Our school assigns the instructors as mentors the first few weeks of school . I am certain this helps because the students form a close bond with instructors and they feel they have someone on their side of the fence .The only negative I see with it though is then students dont feel they can go to any instructor and that circles are formed within the learning stucture .
Our Career Training Programs choose to title us (myself) as career counselors. The plans we have in place (our programs are online) is we contact each student that registers offering them the opportunity to particpate, I understand this may be difficult for all schools. When a stufent choose to participate we keep in contact with students to ensure that they are staying active in their programs. Students just knowing that they have someone there to help no matter what the issue is can be a relief to someone who feels like they are just doing this on their own. This allows students to know they have a point of contact rather than just giving up and not continuing forward. Developing personal relationships is another great idea, that comfortability level helps a lot as well.
I believe those groups can help I also believe that instructors play a pivotal role in choosing the mentoring students because we see who is capable.
Ricky--those are great ways of developing a mentoring program. Have you considered having an established student help with the transition of new students? This can be very helpful.
On the diesel side, we take any student that is having trouble and give him tutoring. Verifying that he is getting the material. If he has trouble comprending the english language, we provide a reader up till the final exam.
admission rep and other directorssothey omepoint
We are using a program that we call Peer Tutoring that acts very much like a mentoring program. It is headed by an instructor in each of our departments that have a list of students and their area of educational specialty. these students excelled in their past courses and showed a willingness to help others. They do get special regognition on their ID badges and on their final transcript upon graduation. The peer tutors are often sought out by newer students to answer simple "where do i go for this" questions as well as tutoring. The peer tutors report back to their assigned instructors periodiacally with a "tutoring sheet" noting their sessions or challenges. It seems to be working very well. Our Peer tutors often volunteer to attend events in our industry in school uniform to help answer questions that potential students or their families might have. These events do have admissions reps at them most of the time as well.
I can see the benefits of a mentoring program not only for high risk students, but also for the student body.
New students should be divided amoung the admissions reps and other directors so they have one point of contact during their first few weeks. So many times we push students to another department and somehow, the student gets lost in the maze. Having an informal mentoring program will help the students learn and understand the workings of the school.
