As engineering programs integrate more makerspace activities in classrooms, it’s become essential to better prepare peer mentors so they can help students learn effectively in these spaces. To bridge this gap, Pamela Dickrell, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and Instructional Professor with the Department of Engineering Education (EED), aims to develop an open-source modular program for training peer mentors using a three-year grant funded under the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Directorate (NSF IUSE).
The project will enhance mentors’ ability to guide student learning in makerspace classrooms. Dr. Dickrell aims to develop, implement, and research the impact of peer mentoring preparation by leveraging high-impact mentoring, role-playing, observations, reflections, shadowing, and simulations. Presently, peer mentors are engineering undergraduate student helpers in the UF Engineering Design & Society course (ENG2020C), who assist fellow students and support faculty’s teaching efforts. While these peer mentors are frequently knowledgeable on technical aspects of designing and prototyping, their educational methods preparation is typically minimal, which limits their capacity to facilitate student learning as effectively as they could with more formal training, according to Dr. Dickrell.
“Our undergraduate engineering student population typically has not taken any courses on educational methods as part of their engineering degree programs,” said Dr. Dickrell. “They just have not had the opportunity to receive instruction in the field of educational methods.”
Dr. Dickrell’s program will also further help peer mentors grow in professional skills for their own engineering careers.
“The topics covered include Education Methods Fundamentals, How People Learn, Diversity of Learners, Fostering a Growth Mindset, Effective Classroom Observing, Social Belonging, Inclusion, Student Identity, Fostering Teamwork, and Group Conflict Resolution,” Dr. Dickrell said. “Over the three years of this project, the program content will be refined based on the feedback of the peer mentors and the measured impact the training for the mentors is having on the first-year students participating in the Engineering Design & Society course.”
Dr. Dickrell says the NSF has a mission to create broader impacts of this research and to elevate the larger STEM education community through what is developed. The modular preparation program will be freely available online.
“An open-source preparation course allows the developed peer mentor training program to be utilized by other universities, state colleges, and the larger STEM education community freely,” Dr. Dickrell said. “By creating the training program in a modular format, other organizations can adopt the modules that are most relevant to their educational needs for their peer mentors and curriculum, without having to utilize all the modules if they do not apply to their learning environment.”
Brady Budke
Marketing and Communications Specialist
Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering