My time as a Peer Mentor is now over. The final deadline for all coursework was last week, so all grading is done. No more weekly emails out to my students, no more responding to questions about the assignments, no more contacting students with work still left to do, no more leaving encouraging feedback on submissions. There was a lot of work involved--3 units' worth in a mere two months. And I'm sorry to see it end.
It was a packed seven weeks. In addition to helping run the course site and dealing with day-to-day grading and issues, I also hosted a webinar that discussed school and non-school resources SLIS students may find helpful and interesting and put together a screencast about the basics of Skype. I got very comfortable with different types of presentation and collaboration technologies, both of which will help in any position I go into (especially since I would love to get involved with any library-offered instruction programs).
All of the Peer Mentors were asked to write a reflection about the experience. Here is a brief excerpt from mine:
It’s hard to pinpoint one thing I’m proudest of. I think I was able to accomplish a lot, and I’m proud of it all. I think my greatest accomplishment was not something I created, but something I did: giving the new students a positive first SLIS experience. I’ve enjoyed my program so much and have gotten so much out of it that I wanted to help them get the same experience. To me, making their first impression of SLIS and the program a good one was the best reward and biggest accomplishment.
I also was able to create a list of what I've done as a Peer Mentor that supports some of the competencies for program completion. It seems that I have three competencies well in hand, which I didn't realize until I wrote the reflection. For those of you that may be in the same program, I would recommend doing a reflection after each class that lists the competencies of that class and the work you did to support those competencies. I would have most of my e-portfolio work done already if I had been doing that with each class. I'm not sure if any of my 203 students are reading this, but if so I recommend that you start doing this now! Especially you M, since you asked the question about e-Portfolios.
I also discovered a desire within myself to continue helping SLIS students, even after I graduate. Being a Peer Mentor has made me feel more connected to my fellow students and the program at large than anything else I have done, and I want to continue giving back to the department and the students. I'm hoping that there are opportunities for me to stay involved. I would recommend the Peer Mentor program to anyone who wants to take something other than regular classes. I learned a lot about myself and what I can do (and what I like to do), and I had a lot of fun doing it.
This post ends the focus on topics new students may find useful. With the end of my time as a Peer Mentor, my blog can return to other topics, recipes, and what I get into in my spare time.
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