peer mentorship

Summary:  Put in place Peer Mentorship program in the ATL to encourage peer-learning and sharing among ATL students while also reducing their dependence on ATL in-charge and Mentors.

Tinkerers & innovators at the ATL have several questions related to tinkering & problem-solving tools, techniques, technologies, prototyping resources, among others.  However, they may not always have access to a Mentor who can clear their doubts or answer their questions. As a result, students often get stuck for days or weeks before their questions are answered or doubts cleared.  

At the same time, there may be experienced tinkerers & innovators at the ATL who have the necessary knowledge, skills & expertise to answer questions that their peers have.   If we don't tap into into this knowledge base and make it available to the larger student community at the ATL, we will not only be missing out on the ability of students to guide each other, but will be denying them the opportunity to do so.

Peer Mentorship will help the ATL develop in-house competence and make it self-sustaining in the long run.  Over a period of time, the ATL can even reduce it's dependence on external mentors or experts.

Here are a few YouTube videos that help a student learn what mentoring is all about and how to become an effective mentor himself or herself:

Here are a few additional resources on Mentoring:

1. A Mentoring Guide: https://www.rackham.umich.edu/downloads/more-mentoring-guide-for-mentors.pdf 

2. A Collection of articles for Mentors: https://www.centerformentoring.com/articles 

The following online tools can be used for registering students to the Peer Mentorship program:

• Google Forms for creating a registration form for students to register as Mentors.

• Google Sheets for students to view the list of Student Mentors and their area(s) of expertise.

Some of the ATL have been successfully employing Student mentors to guide ATL students on a regular basis and even assist student participants during workshops, hackathons, bootcamps or other events conducted by the ATL.   

To start a Peer Mentorship program in the ATL, kindly do the following:

1. Highlight the benefits of becoming a Student Mentor to experienced tinkerers & innovators in the ATL

2. Ask experienced ATL students to volunteer (rather than appoint them) as Student Mentors by signing up to the Peer Mentoring program

3. Let other students know who the Student Mentors are, what their skill-sets are, and how to contact them.

4. Keep the mentoring engagement flexible and convenient for all students

Create a Google Form like the one shown below for students to register as Student Mentors:

Publish the list of Student Mentors along with their email id and/or phone number so that other students can contact them to seek mentoring support or assistance:

An alternative approach is to have the ATL in-charge assign a few students to a Student Mentor.  If these students have any questions or need mentoring support, they can approach the Student Mentor assigned to them with queries.

Role of School Management:  Put in place a Peer Mentorship program at your ATL to develop in-house competence and build a self-sustaining ATL. 

Role of Students: Senior tinkerers and innovators can register themselves as Student Mentors, and other students can seek their assistance and support - as and when they need them.

Role of Mentor(s): Groom Student-Mentors at your ATL so that they can share some of your load and assist many more students.

Role of ATL In-charge:  Encourage senior tinkerers to register as Student Mentors and juniors to seek their assistance.

Put in place a Peer Mentorship program at your ATL.  Submit the link / screenshot(s) / video-recording showing the functioning of the Peer Mentorship program at your ATL.