General Studies (GNST) 501.38 L 01

Research in Selected Topics

Advanced Peer Mentoring

Fall 2008

M 1830-2120*

 

Instructor:	Margo M. Husby, PhD
Office Location:	SS 310
Office Phone:	403-220-4846
E-Mail:	husby@ucalgary.ca
Office Hours:	W 1200-1300 or by appointment

 

Additional Information

By application only.  This course includes a 50-hour practicum as a peer mentor.

*Some class activities are performed outside of class hours in lieu of class time.  Most of these activities are scheduled by students according to their availability.  If you cannot attend a participation activity scheduled at a specific time outside of class, an appropriate make-up assignment will be designed for you.  This course uses Blackboard to post ongoing announcements, grades, and course information.

Course Description

An advanced level of GNST 501.35 Collaborative Learning and Peer Mentoring, this course involves students in supporting peers with their learning processes using a facilitative, collaborative approach.  Advanced peer mentors will have fewer hours of class time and approximately 50 hours per term allotted to service so that in addition to mentoring students in a host course, advanced mentors can assist new mentors to grow into their roles.  Students will conduct their own textual and field research and present findings in two class presentations.  The term project involves a small self-directed research project.

Objectives of the Course

To continue to work toward goals of a) personal learning and growth and b) the enhancement of one's fellow students' learning in our faculty

  1. To either add a new part-time peer mentoring role as a mentor to new mentors in the program, OR to take on a significantly different mentoring role than in the previous term.

   2. To learn new concepts and philosophies of higher education learning, leadership communication and innovation by completing a research project which contributes to the expansion and strength of peer mentoring programs and courses.

Textbooks and Readings:

Palmer, Parker J. "To Know As We Are Known"

Students will be expected to discover further readings relevant to their research topics, presentations and projects.

Assignments and Evaluation

--  10% two in-class presentations (to be scheduled) on your self-directed choice of readings, each with a 1-page handout :  a) proposal and preliminary textual research at the end of week 4, and a progress report at the end of week 8.

... 10% report of an interview with a professor or university instructor in any faculty or department, one who is not hosting a peer mentor (Due October 20) . In this interview, you will get a sense of instructional concerns that profs have, asking what they would like to see their students do in order to enhance their learning, what some of their frustrations are as teachers (e.g. laptops and pagers and such in class). The report must also include a reflection as to how a peer mentor might be able to help students and that particular instructor in a future class.

--  30% Final Report or Project, including a Required Draft.  (Draft November 17, 2008; Final December 15, 2008)  A) A ten-page student-designed research study (i.e. a research article)  and/or B) a public/academic communication product that promotes or orients people to peer mentoring or an issue or concern in university learning, both with complete literature review and bibliography.

--  40% Mentoring Activity Portfolios (Midterm November3; Final December 15) (mentoring new mentors; at least 2 reflections on observing other peer mentors; others' observations of your mentoring; the bi-weekly practicum activity log; email communication records with students / new peer mentors / instructors,  your students' surveys on their mentoring experience), and the interview/reflection report. A reflection on the instructor's comments on the midterm portfolio must be included in the final portfolio.

--  10% Class Participation

Specific directions for each assignment will be negotiated between the student and instructor and posted thereafter on Blackboard.

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.

Confidentiality

Students will be expected to share their writing and experiences with fellow classmates in order to learn from each other.  However, all students must treat their peers' documents and statements as confidential to their original audiences within this classroom community, and must obtain authors' written permission before communicating others' words, ideas, or intellectual property to other parties via media or text.  This applies whether they are recorded anonymously or by identifying their author(s).

 Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor . If it is not possible to do so because of illness or other emergency, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination:  NO

Please note: If your class is held in the evening, the Registrar's Office will make every attempt to schedule the final exam during the evening; however, there is NO guarantee that the exam will NOT be scheduled during the day.

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre.  Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

(Revised, effective September 2008)

 

	Grading Scale	GPA
A+	96-100	4.0
A	90-95.99	4.0
A -	85-89.99	3.7
B+	80-84.99	3.3
B	75-79.99	3.0
B-	70-74.99	2.7
C+	65-69.99	2.3
C	60-64.99	2.0
C-	55-59.99	1.7
D+	53-54.99	1.3
D	50-52.99	1.0
F	0-49	0

 

Where a grade on a particular assignment is expressed as a letter grade, it will normally be converted to a number using the midpoint of the scale.  That is, A- would be converted to 87.5 for calculation purposes.  F will be converted to zero.

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines.  Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research.  For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see

The Faculty of Communication and Culture Research Ethics site: http://www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/ethics

or the University of Calgary Research Ethics site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/research/compliance/ethics/info/undergrad/

Mentoring Ethics

Students will be required to sign an Ethics Guidelines document which outlines the ethical responsibilities and limitations of the peer mentor's role http://www.ucalgary.ca/~smit/PeerMentoring/EthicsforPeerMentors07.pdf   Failure to follow ethics guidelines may result in grade penalties to the relevant assignments. 

Instructors' Research

To improve the quality of teaching in this subject area, Dr. Tania Smith and/or your instructor occasionally analyzes data about student learning that is gathered naturally in the course of teaching, and may present these findings at conferences or in academic publications. Unless you give signed consent, data specific to your course work and participation will not be included in such research. During course evaluation time, or after the course is over, Dr. Smith and/or the instructor may hand out consent forms or email you a request to use your work outside of the course. You are free to decline participation or withdraw participation at any time. Any signed consent forms will not be seen by the instructor until after the final grades have been submitted.

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

Will be posted on Blackboard