peer tutors creating positive change for first year...

PeerPeer tutors creating positive change for first year students

Johanna Jacobs, student psychologist, [email protected]

Rebecca Léonard, student psychologist, [email protected]

Content

Study Guidance

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- Introduction- VUB & Study Guidance- Holistic view of students- Coaching vs. Advising

- Self Determination Theory (SDT) and tutoring - SDT- SDT: Tutor-tutee- SDT: Train the tutor

- Peer tutoring @ VUB- Practical implementation

- Students feedback

- Challenges and implications

Vrije Universiteit Brussel in numbers

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Study Guidance

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- “Tutoring group”

- Part of Study Guidance:- 8 colleagues with different backgrounds- 8% of their time

- University-wide peer tutoring services

- A holistic view of the student

Not only course related guidance

- Coaching vs. Advising

Together with the student we look for a suitable solution and offer customised guidance.

Digitalization employees

Employees’ welfare

Head of the department

Assistant Manager

Policy Advisors

Study Advisors

Learning path

counsellors

Student Psychologists

Communication

Inclusion Policy

Digitalization students

Front-Office / Studying in group / Infrastructure

Guidance themes: study & exam skills, research competences,

academic language, motivation, stress & anxiety, …

Workshops

Study

progress &

reorientation

Tutoring

Individual

counselling

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- A tutor @ VUB = a peer tutor

• Students helping other students to work on academic, social, behavioral and/or social skills

- A tutee @ VUB

• Student of the tutor

Peer tutoring @ VUBDefinitions

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A holistic view of the student

Study progress talks

Meeting Point: face-to-face / phone

Calendly-appointment

Individual counseling

• Choice of study and reorientation

• Starting competences, transition from high school

• Student’s well-being (stress, performance-anxiety)

• Study path

• Planning

• Study and exam skills

• Research competences

• Thesis writing

• Presentation skills

• Students with special needs (Reflex)

• Course related guidance

Workshops

Study guidance for a specific study programme

E-mail

Digital tools

Coaching vs. Advising

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Advising/instructing attitude Coaching attitude

Expert in content Rather no expert in content (the tutee is the expert)

Course / discipline specific Personal growth and development

You speak most of the time: e.g. psycho-education You listen most of the time

The tutee follows the tutor The tutor follows the tutee

Focus on result (short-term) Focus on process (long-term)

‘Fixed package’: every time the same ‘Customised’: every time different

Competence… Autonomy…

… but gives also ‘Autonomy’ becauce of the Competence … but gives also ‘Competence’ because of the Autonomy

Some questions…

Open your app ‘Poll Everywhere’ and join presentation: jjacobs044

OR

Go to the website: PollEv.com/jjacobs044

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Pros and cons of Advising

• Pros

• Structure and guidelines to help the tutor

• The tutee gets hands on feedback

• It provides solutions for problems

• Fosters competence and offers direct answers

• Cons

• It is focused on a single event

• It limits you as a tutor

• Focus is short-term

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Pros and cons of Coaching

- Pros• Co-working with your tutee: a shared responsibility

• Self-directed: the tutee decides what to get out of the sessions

• The tutee gets personal feedback and is stimulated to reflect.

• Fosters personal growth and development

• Strengthens tutor/tutee relationship

• Empowers students

• Long-term focus

- Cons• No straight structure or guidelines for the tutor

• The tutee doesn’t necessarily get direct answers regarding what to do, because it’s a process of discovering it yourself.

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Coaching Advising


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- Complicated interwoven and related combination: it needs balance

- It’s possible to emphasize one attitude, depending on the moment, student/tutee, question, topic, who you are as a tutor, …

- Sometimes artificial to separate

- Both attitudes are needed

- Complementary, although there can be tensions

e.g. how the tutor works vs. what the tutee needs

Self determination theory

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Motivating the students: Self determination theory (Deci & Ryan, Vansteenkiste)

- An approach to human motivation

- A positive vison on humans:

Humans have an innate strength to develop themselves

- Influence of the environment on humans: stimulating or opposing factors

- Motivation is always in interaction

The unmotivated student doens’t exist!

- How to create a context in which students want to learn?

Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, Vansteenkiste)

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Zelfdeterminatietheorie (Deci & Ryan, Vansteenkiste)

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Intrinsic motivation leads to:

- In- depth studying

- More perseverence

- Knowlegde/skills transferable to other contexts

- A more sustainable behaviour change

- A higher mental well-being



How to stimulate students to intrinsic motivation?

→ Enhance the 3 basic psycho-social needs

- Need for relatedness• Show respect and that you care• Create an inclusive environment • Offer security

- Need for competence• Create an optimal challenge for your student • Give positive performance feedback

- Need for autonomy• Let your student create their own goals by choice• Give enough explanation • Acknowledge the feelings of your students

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SDT: Tutor-Tutee

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- Relatedness

→ One-to-one, creating a professional relation using counselling techniques

- Competence

→ Advising: course specific, psycho-education in study related skills

- Autonomy

→ Coaching: “How do you start with the math exercise?”, “What are you already doing?”, “What is important for you?”, …

SDT: Train the tutor

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- Relatedness

→ Small group sessions: training + supervision

→ Counselling techniques

→ Welcoming: they can always contact us with questions


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- Competence

→ Advising via psycho-education:

• Vision of study guidance

• Study and exam skills

• Planning skills

• SDT

• Counselling techniques

• Process flow tutoring and fiche

• How to deal with vulnerable students

• Practical information

Process flow: tutoring

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Create a professional relation Gather information from the needs and themes

Baseline

Create a plan/goal for your sessions

Evaluate

Stop Continue

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- Autonomy

→ Supervision sessions

→ A lot of freedom: they decide how, where, when, how many contacts, …

→ Providing the fiche to make them reflect

→ Trust

Feedback from our tutors*

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What kind of guidance have you already offered during your tutor sessions?

* 28 respondents

Advising + Coaching

Coaching + Advising

Feedback from our tutors

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Which are the qualities of a good tutor?

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Tutoring @ VUB: practical implementation

- Recruitment• Applying at Study Guidance• Contacted by Study Guidance (based on grades) • IDLO → internship

- Intake

- Study Guidance will match a tutor and a tutee, using the online tool

- The tutee has to contact his tutor

- Tutors can reserve a box between 4:00pm and 6:00pm in the Study Guidance’s staff section

- A maximum of €15/session via expense account (not for IDLO)

- The tutor offers guidance to a maximum of 4 students at the same time.

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Online tool: Filemaker

- A tool for Study Guidance

• Accepting tutors and add for which course(s)

• Matching tutors and tutees

→ Tutor and tutee will automatically be informed of the match.

- Personal file of the tutor

• Personal details, e.g. availability

• Tutor sessions: registration of a session, start & stop, …

• List of the courses that they are allowed to be a tutor for

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Challenges and implications for the future

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Challenge

- Not everyone accepts the surplus value of both attitudes → tensions

• E.g.: tutor mathematics

Implication

- (More) psycho-education on advising and coaching

• For tutors and staff


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Challenge

- Attendance in our tutor-training

Implication

- A mandatory training?

- Creating a training in a virtual environment

- Writing a book: a guide for tutoring

- Implementation of a structural evaluation


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Challenge

- Getting feedbacks

Implication

- Implementation of a structural evaluation

- Improvement of our online tool

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Questions?

Questions?

Questions?

Literature

- Bland, S.M. (2003). Advising adults: Telling or Coaching?. Adult Learning / Best practices, 14(2), 6-9.

- Clement, Jef (2018, 21st Ed.). Inspirerend coachen. Tielt: Uitgeverij Lannoo.

- Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

- Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.

- De Meyer, J., Borghouts, L., Tallir, I., Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Speleers, L., Aelterman, N., Van den Berghe, L., Haerens, L., & Cardon, G. (2013). Relation between observed controlling teaching behavior and students’ motivation in physical education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106, 541-554.

- Van Driel, J.H. (2008). Van een lerende vakdocent leer je het meest. Leiden: Oratie Universiteit Leiden.

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peer tutors creating positive change for first year...

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