Education Commons^™

Evaluating A Peer Assisted Learning Programme For Mature Access Foundation Students Undertaking Computer Programming At An Irish University, Nevan Bermingham, Frances Boylan, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

Access Foundation Programmes are a widening-participation initiative designed to encourage engagement in higher education among under-represented groups. This includes socioeconomic and educational disadvantage. Mature students in particular enrolled on these programmes experience greater difficulties making the transition to tertiary education, especially when they opt to study disciplines traditionally considered difficult. Computer programming is perceived as a traditionally difficult subject with lower pass rates and progression rates typically than other subjects.

This paper describes the first of a three-cycle action research study examining the perceived effects of a structured Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Programme for mature students enrolled on a computer …

Peer Mentoring And The First Year Experience, Aiden Carthy, Peer Mentoring Resources Limited

Other Resources

The transition from secondary level learning to independent study can be difficult to negotiate and many students also experience emotional pressures as they adjust to a busy social environment at college (McAleavy, Collins and Adamson 2004 ; O’Reilly 2008). Many third level institutions are exploring ways to improve the first year experience and one such approach that has gained increasing interest in recent years is the provision of peer mentoring. This paper outlines and evaluates a pilot peer mentoring programme that was conducted with first year business students (n = 112) from three separate courses at a third level institution …

Mentoring Case Studies In The Access And Civic Engagement Office, Technological University City, John Delap, Sinéad Mccann

Staff Articles and Research Papers

Abstract This is a collaborative paper by staff members working with Students Learning with Communities (SLWC) and the Access Service in the Access and Civic Engagement Office (ACE) at Technological University City (DIT). Through two case studies, this paper examines various types of mentoring operating within these two programmes, as well as identifying; 1) the purpose of each type of mentoring relationship, and its specific structure 2) the desired outcomes of the mentoring relationships and 3) areas in which mentoring relationships can grow. This paper aims to contribute to the development of best practice for mentoring in higher education.

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