CLaSS Lecturer Beverley Hancock-Smith provides and overview of this session as well as future developments related to this topic.
Twenty staff mentors and students took part in our inaugural “The M
entors’ Guide to….” Session on Tuesday 10th April 2018.
With overwhelmingly positive feedback from both staff and students, the session will now become a regular feature in our Library and Learning Services (LLS) Open Programme Workshops.
The session
With exam season upon us and final assessment dates looming, the summer term can be a particularly stressful time for students.
As part of the Healthy dmYou initiative, students were offered the chance to gain valuable advice and guidance about managing pressure and coping with stressful situations from our Dare to Be mentors.
Linking in with the Exam Success open programme workshops, which took place in the Library, our Dare to Be Mentors shared their experiences and offered valuable advice and guidance..
Dare to Be Mentors
Our eight mentors were existing DMU staff members, alumni and honourands. Between them, they had a wealth of experience and ideas to share. We were delighted that Paul Morrison, Education Segment Lead for Hewlett Packard, was one of the mentors taking part in this session.
Students had the chance to speak with mentors in whole group and small group discussions, gaining advice, guidance and practical solutions to managing pressure and stress ahead of exam season.
Co-creation
The idea to offer group mentoring sessions throughout the year came directly from our Dare to Be student mentees. Dare to Be is a mentoring scheme open to all DMU students. It aims to improve student confidence, self-belief and motivation.
As part of mentee training, many students took the opportunity to attend one of our group mentoring sessions to gain experience of the mentoring relationship first hand.
Feedback from these sessions was overwhelmingly positive. So much so, that some students suggested we run group mentoring throughout the year and not just as part of Dare to Be training… so we did!
A lasting legacy
Video clips of the advice given by mentors on a wide range of topics will shortly be made available on the Centre for Learning and Study Support (CLaSS) website.
Upcoming sessions
“The Mentors’ Guide to…” will run during LLS Open Programme weeks in the Library. They will be themed to complement the suite of workshops already on offer during the week.
For further details on the Open Programme Workshops and “The Mentors’ Guide to…” sessions, visit the CLaSS website.