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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

peer mentors, freshman transition, quality of interaction, college

College

David O. McKay School of Education

Department

Teacher Education

Abstract

Research has shown that student-to-student interaction in times of transition is valuable (Kuh, 2005; Light, 2001; Astin, 1993). Kuh (2005) has highlighted the interaction between freshmen and upper-classmen as a high impact strategy in supporting freshmen transition. Yet, research indicates that the benefits received by either the freshmen or the upper-classmen is dependent on the quality of interaction. Since the upper-classmen, usually labeled as peer mentors, have the most responsibility for that interaction, their ability to negotiate these relationships becomes increasingly important to programs that use them. Thus, hiring peer mentors and training them is a crucial concern. Currently criteria to direct selection and training of peer mentors are largely intuitive and haphazard. Other than traditional hiring guidelines and training strategies used for almost any program, there is little guidance for personnel directing college transition programs. Most researchers in this area use externally constructed evaluation tools to explore selection. We wondered what we might learn about evaluation and selection of peer mentors by inviting them into the evaluation process. In our study, we explored what peer mentor constructed rubrics for self-evaluation could teach us about the selection and development of peer mentors. Our overarching question was: What can we learn about peer mentors’ development from their own evaluations of expected peer mentor performance?

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