Mentors in an Undergraduate Psychology Course: A Comparison of Student Experience and Engagement
Keywords:
education; higher education; mentoring; curricular peer mentoringAbstract
Curricular peer mentoring is a specific course-based form of
peer mentoring that is intended as academic support for students
(Smith, 2013, Chapter 1). This study focussed on a curricular peer
mentoring program being used specifically in an undergraduate child
psychology course. This study aimed to discover differences in student
experience, engagement, and achievement in three courses as impacted
by having mentors or not having mentors. Students from all three
sections of the course participated in the study. It was found that those
in the mentored group (M = 7.73 ±2.45) reported significantly higher
levels of Group Engagement as compared to those in the non-mentored
groups (M = 5.83 ±1.93), yielding t(120) = 3.88, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d =
0.71. Similarly, those in the mentored group (M = 9.02 ±2.20) reported
significantly higher levels of Social Engagement as compared to those
in the non-mentored groups (M = 7.55 ±2.56), yielding t(120) = 3.31, p <
0.001, Cohen’s d= 0.60. Further, with regard to achievement There were
significant main effects found for evaluation type and group
membership; however, these differences were qualified by an
interaction between evaluation type (midterm, final) and mentorship
group (non-mentored-2011, non-mentored-2013, mentored-2012),
yielding F2, 500 = 52.85, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.18. Further investigation of the
interaction using contrasts demonstrated that there were no differences
between the mentorship groups on average midterm grades (F1, 500 = 6.64,
ns) but that the grades on the cumulative final exam were significantly
better in the mentored group when compared to the non-mentored groups
(F1, 500=42.33, p<.001, η 2=.08).
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Copyright (c) 2015 Jill A. Singleton-Jackson, Marc Frey, Martene Clayton Sementilli, Tyler Pickel
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