What it Means to be a Peer or The Center as Mentor

Jennifer Finstrom Lisa Lenoir DePaul University

 As As

adultsnontraditional students

students in a university setting: both undergraduate and graduate peer tutors in a writing center setting mentors and mentees

As As

In 2006, the number of nontraditional students was increasing more quickly than any other group attending college.

Many of these students are distance learners, and total enrollment in all distance learning courses across the United States has more than doubled since 1995 (754,000 to 1.9 million).

From the US University Review

 In

Fall 2011, 53.8% were under 24 years old; about 46% were 24 and older across the universitys colleges. the School for New Learning, 99.4% and 100 % of the undergraduate and graduate students, respectively were 24 and older.

In

 The

School for New Learning (SNL) provides a unique approach to learning for adults, with customized programs that build upon abilities and experiences, add knowledge, and develop skills to help achieve personal and professional goals. A fundamental idea behind SNL is learning from experience. We believe mixing experiences and interpretations results in lasting knowledge.
www.snl.depaul.edu

 What

exactly is meant by a nontraditional student? nontraditional students be both graduate students and undergraduate students?

Can

The

commonly accepted definition is so broad that the very fact of a definition can be questioned.

 The

National Center for Education Statistics defines nontraditional undergraduate students by the following criteria: Delays enrollment
Attends part time

Is financially independent (for purpose of

financial aid)

continued

 Has dependents other than a spouse

Is a single parent (either not married or

married but separated)

Does not have a high school diploma (

has a GED or did not graduate)

According to Horn (1996), on a continuum based on these characteristics, students fall into three categories of nontraditional.
"minimally nontraditional" if they have only one

nontraditional characteristic
"moderately nontraditional" if they have two or three "highly nontraditional" if they have four or more

The nontraditional student, however, resists definition. Nontraditional students are full-time employees and full-time parents; military personnel and veterans; stay-at-home moms and home-schooled students. They go to school part-time and full-time, online and in the classroom. The only quality they share is that theyre typically older than the traditional studentmost U.S. census data surveys classify them as 25 and olderbut traditional-aged students who are also parents or full-time workers, as well as homeschoolers going to college online, may question this definition. -from distance-education.org

A student can become more or less

nontraditional and that identity can change and be renegotiated.

change in these outward factors isnt the only way that a change in self-perception can come about. change in where a nontraditional student locates him or herself in an academic setting can also bring about this change.

 Mauk

writes of the placelessness of many college students, mentioning nontraditional students in particular, and proposes that what is needed is a new pedagogy that will connect the academic with the students everyday life.

 peer1

noun 1 3. a someone who is one's equal in age, rank, etc; a contemporary, companion or fellow; b as adj peer group. ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from French per, from Latin par equal.
(From Chambers Dictionary)

 Students

work tended to improve when they got help from peers; peers offering help, furthermore, learned from the students they helped and from the activity of helping itself. Collaborative learning, it seemed, harnessed the powerful educative force of peer influence that had been-and largely still is-ignored and hence wasted by traditional forms of education. (Bruffee, Collaborative Learning and the
Conversation of Mankind)

 Words

origin comes from Greek mythology.

mentor is looked to for wise advice and guidance.
mlahanas.de

Source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mentor & www.umbc.edu/cwit/pdf/CWIT_Mentoring_Tool_Kit CWIT Mentoring Tool

Telemachus and Mentor

 Mentee

or protg: A person guided and helped especially in the furtherance of his or her career, by another, more influential person. www.umbc.edu/cwit/pdf/CWIT_Mentoring_Tool _Kit CWIT Mentoring Tool

 Writing

centers can:

Increase peer tutor confidence Instill a sense of responsibility Raise awareness about the importance of

writing as part of the democratic process Generate a desire and ability to succeed professionally and personally. -adapted from
www.umbc.edu/cwit/pdf/CWIT_Mentoring_Tool_Kit CWIT Mentoring Tool

 By

viewing the self through the lens of writing center workadding the identity of peer to that of nontraditional perceptions changed and new selfdefinitions became possible.

 The

identity of nontraditional student cannot be easily negotiated or defined. students can benefit from being mentored just as much as traditional students.

Nontraditional

Writing

centers can fill a mentorship role and foster productivity and future achievement.