Second Reflection

SECOND REFLECTION: CHEC COURSE

What learning problems have you decide to address?

·         My programme addresses students socialization into the learning and pedagogical processes of university life. I will focus on the academic and social skills students need to succeed at University. I would like to focus on e-mentoring as a vehicle to assist students with the transition from high school to university.

What activity have you decided to develop?

·         I decided to develop an e-mentoring programme which will focus on various skills students would need to engage with academic life such as time management, report writing, referencing, reading skills and examination preparation. The e-mentoring programme will also focus on aspects such as students’ aspiration, their navigational capacity at the university and non-institutional factors that influence student engagement (Yosso, 2005 and Zepke and Leach 2011).

What tool have you selected and why?

·         Blog

I decided to use the blog as it enables students to engage with various topics that will improve their academic skills and knowledge. Students will be able to read, view videos and write reflections on each topic. The blog is accessible and students are able to post videos, pictures and texts. They will gain confidence in posting their own views and stating an opinion. They will also be able to view other students work and comment and engage in discussion.

·         Cellular Phones. SMS or MXit,

I will also use the cellular phone via SMS or MXit as a form of communication and to emphasize social presence awareness Kekwaltelswe (2007) between mentors, mentees and myself.  She referred to mobile learning support as a form of ‘social presence awareness’. She suggests that social awareness is a mental concept where a learner becomes aware of the social network that follows him or her while moving across the different learning contexts. Mentors will send SMS which will focus on how they felt about their interaction with their mentees, what they have learnt from their mentees and what ideas they shared with their mentees. The SMS and MXit serves as a tool to provide students with the affective support needed in a mentoring relationship.

·         What are the affordances of this tool?

The blog’s affordances are functional, cognitive and sensory (Hartson, 2003). Students will be able to use the blog for specific purposes and it will be used as a communication tool between lecturer and students.  The cognitive affordance of this tool would enable students to engage in activities where they are required to reflect on various topics and answer questions related to academic learning. The sensory affordances of the blog relates to the visual information such as the video and slide share presentation, pictures that students are allowed to post on the blog. (Hartson, 2003).

The cellular phone will be used to communicate between mentors, mentees and the lecturer and provides fast effective and immediate interaction between students.  A key part of the e-mentoring programme is effective communication between mentors and mentees. Mentors experienced problems such as insufficient time for mentoring, hesitancy to ask personal or difficult questions, they struggle to maintain contact between them and their mentees during the conventional face to face mentoring. Mentors will be required to interact with the lecture weekly via SMS or MXit in order to reflect on their mentoring experience.

·         How well do the affordances of this tool match the learning needs?

Students need to be initiated into the academic culture by understanding the needs and expectations of academic learning. The e-mentoring programme will address the academic skills and knowledge students need in order to succeed. They should also become familiar with the social context in which they are learning by engaging with the campus environment and culture. At the same time they need to understand how their own personal contexts and identity impact on their learning.     

Students will be able to express what they learn, how they learn and why they learn on the blog which will be accessed anywhere on or off campus. The blog tool is easy to manipulate and is an online space where will also give students the ‘voice’ they need to engage with their own learning and the courage to contribute. The blog will focus on students’ aspiration and engagement on campus and the non-institutional factors that influence learning. This will allow the lecturer to engage with the students’ personal learning contexts and the institutional contexts in which they learn.

·         Theoretical departure points in the research or teaching

I will employ aspects of Margaret Archer’s (2003) theoretical position on structure and agency, specifically what she calls  ‘modes of reflexivity’ (2007) to show how students are able to act independently and to make their own choices and take particular stances towards their learning. Agency’, refers to the ability of individuals to act independently and to make their own choices. Reflexivity can be understood as the active process of engagement of individuals within their social circumstances. (Archer, 2003). I will use Zekpe and Leach’s conceptual organizer (2011) and aspects of Yosso’s, 2008 community cultural wealth as lens in which to explore the student mentors reflexivity.

·         Contexts in which it is applied

The mentors and mentees are involved in the peer mentorship programme can be described as non-traditional students. They are first generation students; they have English as a second or third language, come from poor schooling contexts and difficult socio- economic backgrounds. Most students are enrolled in courses which are their second or third choices.  The mentees are first year students and the mentors are second or third year students.

·         Description of the content or module in which you may apply the pedagogic intervention.

The peer mentorship programme focuses on provide socio-academic support. Peer mentors assist first year students with issues such as such as time management, note-taking, exam preparation; assignment writing and ICTs. The programme aims to enable students to develop skills, a sense of belonging and peer engagement.

How may you apply it to your own module?

I will change my approach to the mentor training and include a session on how to use blog and how to use the cellular phones and MXit for mentoring purposes. The use of SMS and MXit will allow me explore the nature of the SMS communication on the peer mentoring programme and it affects on e-mentoring.  The use of blogs will highlight the significance of e-training on peer mentorship programmes.

·         What do you think the challenges may be in applying this approach in your own module?

The major challenges I foresee will be whether students have access to the internet on and off campus. Students at CPUT also receive 500 megabytes per month and might run out of credits to use the internet on campus. They might not have air time to SMS or MXit . The duration of the programme is six weeks and students will have to be consistent and committed.  Marks are not allocated to this programme but it serves as an enrichment and leadership opportunity for mentors.

Najwa Norodien-Fataar

                                                                                                                                22 May 2012