Peer Mentor Drop-In Sessions
Ask us questions, receive feedback, or practice elements of mentoring. These sessions are optional and are hosted online and in-person in the Study Zone.
Information about our 2023/24 drop-ins will appear on this page.
If you would like us to observe a session, please email us.
Peer Mentor Workflow
Peer Mentor Workflow
This 'workflow' is a stage-by-stage training and development process for all Peer Mentors. If you complete all stages by our deadline, you will have your role as a Peer Mentor listed on your Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR).
The deadline for 2022/23 has now closed. Unsure how and when you will receive your HEAR record? Contact the HEAR team.
If you have any questions about completing the Workflow, please email us at peersupport@exeter.ac.uk.
Please note, the following steps are mandatory to be a Peer Mentor:
- attendance at a training workshop
- completing the Peer Mentor Quiz
- submission of registers
Peer Mentor Workflow 2023-24
The 2023-24 Workflow is still in development, but for Mentors who have already signed up, you can complete the following steps:
Complete your application to become a Peer Mentor on a Peer Support programme. Please contact the Programme Organiser for the scheme you wish to apply for to get the application link.
To complete this stage you will need to book onto and attend a Peer Mentor Training Workshop. This is a mandatory 2-2.5 hour session covering the basics of peer mentoring and is necessary to become a Peer Mentor.
If you have attended a training workshop that was delivered within your programme and not one of our centrally bookable sessions, please contact peersupport@exeter.ac.uk.
Complete the Peer Mentor quiz to check your understanding of the Peer Mentoring Text and Training session.
Please note: The quiz is a mandatory part of your role as a Peer Mentor regardless of whether you intend to complete the Workflow.
Please upload a session plan that you have used, intend to use, or have created for a peer mentoring session. We will upload the 2023 session plan template in time for September, but you can also create your own plan from scratch. Once completed, you will be able to upload it to our form in 2023/24.
If you would like us to observe one of your sessions and provide feedback, even if it is not the session you have uploaded a plan of, please email us.
This is a mandatory part of your Peer Mentoring role regardless of whether you complete the Workflow. There are two options to complete this stage:
- You can ask your mentees to "check-in" at the start of every session. This might be the most helpful register option if you have a big group of mentees or are meeting in person. The check-in form will ask your mentees for their name, email, your name and their scheme and will notify us that a session has taken place. We will provide a template check-in sign that you can download, print and take to your sessions for mentees to check-in with.
- You can make a record throughout the year of who your mentees are and when you meet, and upload this at the end of your scheme. This might be the most helpful register option if you only have a small group of mentees or are on a pastoral scheme where this feels too formal. You can then upload all of the dates you met, your mentees' details and what you covered in our register form towards the end of your time as a Mentor. This will give us all of the information we need about your time as a Mentor.
You must upload information about all of the times you met with your mentees across both academic terms. If you are a Mentor on multiple schemes, please complete registers for all schemes you are mentoring on.
The Development Activity gives you a chance to write about how your experiences as a Peer Mentor have related to your employability and skills development. You can do this as a blog, vlog or poster, and we will provide templates for these for the 2023/24 academic year. You may choose to use your reflections here as part of future job or further study applications. Once you have completed your development activity, please upload it to the form which we will provide here in 2023/24.
To complete your Workflow, please follow the link in the email that you will receive when your Development Activity is approved.
This is the final stage of your Workflow. Please make sure you have completed all the prior stages of the Workflow to ensure you receive HEAR recognition.
Optional: AFHEA Workflow
Interested in remaining in the higher education sector, including future study or employment? Becoming an Associate Fellow is an excellent way of making your application stand out.
You can use your work as a Peer Mentor towards becoming an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now known as Advance HE). This opportunity is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate taught Mentors, who will need to complete the steps below in addition to the Peer Mentor Workflow.
If you are a postgraduate research Peer Mentor, you may still be able to apply to become an Associate Fellow through the LTHE.
If you are interested in AFHEA, the Peer Support team will guide you in making your application following the steps below. Please note: while we will support you in applying, we cannot guarantee your application will be successful.
Application steps:
Deliver a Peer Mentor session:
The AFHEA application requires you to reflect on your teaching. Once you have decided to apply for AFHEA, the Peer Support team will therefore contact you to arrange for one of us to observe your session. When you come to complete the AFHEA application, you can use the work done here to form that stage of the application.
Please ensure you send the staff member observing your session the Intended Learning Outcomes of your session in advance. It is also worth looking at the 'Pedagogy and Learning Theories' and 'Inclusivity' sections of the AFHEA reading in advance of your session.
Receive feedback on your session:
Once you have completed your observation, the Peer Support staff member who observed you will meet with you to offer feedback. This can be done immediately after the session or on an arranged basis. You may wish to gather feedback using the AFHEA Observation Form, as this will help you store your feedback in one place to use later in your application. If you would like to receive feedback on this form, please send a copy to your observer in advance of the observation.
Reflect on your practice:
We will host an 'AFHEA in a Day' event with further information and guidance on completing your application. Make sure you have been observed and received your feedback prior to attending AFHEA in a Day, as you will be asked to reflect on your feedback as part of the application. You may find it helpful to have completed some of this reflection and / or done some reading prior to AFHEA in a Day, although this is not compulsory.
Attend 'AFHEA in a Day' and complete your application:
'AFHEA in a Day' is designed to help you prepare the tools you will need for your application. Once you have signed up to apply for AFHEA, the Peer Support team will be in touch with further details about this.
Please note: The deadline has passed to apply for AFHEA in 2022/23, but if you are currently a Mentor interested in applying for AFHEA in 2023/24, please email peersupport@exeter.ac.uk.
As part of your AFHEA application, you will need to engage with some literature on pedagogy and learning. Below is a list of useful reading and resources you may wish to use.
HEA guidance on utilising the UKPSF
Pedagogy and Learning Theories
Experience and Education by John Dewey
Mind in Society: the development of higher psychological processes by L.S. Vygotskiĭ
Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen Brookfield
How Learning Works
The Learning Brain: lessons for education by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
What can Neuroscience Research Teach Us about Teaching? by Daniela Kaufer (video resource)
Universal Design
Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling
Starting Teaching in Higher Education
Historical Insights: Teaching as a PhD Student by Kate Bradley
Neuroscience and How Students Learn by Daniela Kaufer
Inclusivity
An Introduction to Inclusivity
Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom by Brielle Harbin, Leah Marion Roberts, Roberta Nelson, and Chris Purcell