Brundiers et al. look at sustainability education and how it can be supported by real world experiences, including project-based learning, service learning, and internships. Giving students real world experiences helps their acquisition of goals related to the sustainability education they are receiving. From collaborative work to and problem-solving skills, these real-world experiences contributed to the student’s sustainability education. This article also highlighted how real-world experiences play into the curriculum and then how the skills they are supposed to be acquiring fit into the progression. This article served as a case study for what implementation of real-world experiences may look like, and how they can be fit into the curriculum on a wider scale.  

Annotation contributed by Ellery Ewell, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

This article examines the process of connecting theory to practice and outlines a “new approach” to formulating these connections. Allan et al. utilize nursing education as a case study to frame their approach. The main tenet of their approach is re-contextualization; knowledge learned in one context has to be recontextualized to in different ways that utilize that knowledge. The framework of recontextualization overcomes the theory to practice gap that they saw in nursing education. They also examine some of the implementations in terms of how it plays into building curricula. They discuss gradual release, which is reflective of how curricula are scaffolded, building on base knowledge and skill as learners move through their education. The principle of gradual release is integral to building connections to broader contexts and the principles of recontextualization will help us how to increase these connections to broader contexts.  

Annotation contributed by Ellery Ewell, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

This article discusses the importance of dissecting feedback and the student’s interaction with such to determine the benefit provided by specific feedback tools. The authors first establish the importance of conversational feedback, in which students can both understand and reject, if necessary, the feedback offered by their teacher. Such a technique should offer students a semblance of classroom agency, which encourages a partnership between teachers and their students so there exists reciprocity of feedback. The authors then goes on to note that a spectrum of feedback exists (12 types), which should be judiciously used in both evaluative and descriptive manners to evoke the most meaningful conversations from their student body. In varying subjects—which this article displays by offering evidence from STEM, English, and athletic perspectives—students tended to offer different responses after question prompting offered by the teacher. This is, in part, due to the dispositions of the students engaging with the feedback, but those in STEM were noted to respond with fewer words rather than with a dialog. English Studies students, on the other hand, were quicker to note areas of improvement within their work, thus allowing a dialog to flow between teacher the student. Due to the importance of this dialogic element, the authors conclude with the recommendation that feedback typologies cannot be fixed and thus should follow the idiosyncrasies that conversations oftentimes offer. 

Annotation contributed by Christina Wyatt, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

Ryan explores formative and summative feedback styles alongside the importance of language to implore further discussion on the matter. Ryan begins by delineating the importance of emphasizing formative and summative feedback to students, which involves the assessment of learning prior to and after assessments. While formative assessments can take the shape of peer-to-peer feedback as well as self-feedback, a summative assessment would typically take the form of an exam. Ryan then further delves into the nuance that comes with self and peer-to-peer feedback to highlight the importance of student agency. She mentions establishing class norms to create a sense of trust in her students before implementing a critique system, as oftentimes individuals, especially musicians, tend to take criticism as a personal offense rather than a performance growth opportunity. She mentioned highlighting what went well in a performance prior to discussion of what could have been improved and, to improve the quality of discussion in a peer setting, using a word-bank system to highlight important vocabulary that offers intrinsic growth opportunity. Lastly, Ryan discusses how feedback can come in many shapes and forms beyond verbal as different learning styles oftentimes require differences in feedback approach. 

Annotation contributed by Christina Wyatt, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

Svanes and Skagen discuss benefits that Didaktik, feedback research, and classroom research could garner if used in tandem with each other. Didaktik is a Swedish tradition that underlines the importance of a teacher’s professional autonomy alongside the importance of creating feedback that matches with the subject matter and the pupils involved. Svanes and Skagen go on to argue that a focus on language-based intentionality is too narrow of a lens to fully understand what is happening in the classroom. Didaktik instead focuses on what qualities the teacher uses when giving feedback. To further this idea, its mentioned that a student’s learning is subject to the presentation of the teacher, thus the outcome of such cannot be fixed in advance. This means that students may not understand what the teacher attempts to convey, which can sometimes boil down to classroom context. The authors provide an extended example, focused on guided reading.

Annotation contributed by Christina Wyatt, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

In this piece, the effectiveness of feedback strategies are tested to determine what styles of feedback genuinely provide the most support to students. The journal article begins by discussing the merit of using explanations in place of simple corrective feedback in a timely manner to the interception of the issue. Alongside this concept, it was recommended that teachers profile their students to determine how one might go about receiving, perceiving, interpreting, and understanding the information presented to them. Such is important given that feedback is only as powerful as a student’s perception of it, in which case students oftentimes refuse to utilize the feedback received. To offer a unique perspective away from surveys, this journal used oral classroom feedback alongside video-stimulated recall to gather perceptions of feedback within one-on-one conversations to provide a time for reflection and correction. The results concluded that 30% of teacher feedback is not recognized by students, and further that around 30% of the feedback recognized was interpreted as per the teacher’s intention.  

 Annotation contributed by Christina Wyatt, 2021-2023 CEL Student Scholar

The objective of this paper was to review literature about near-peer mentoring programs for first-year medical students. “A near-peer is one who is one or more years senior to another on the same level of education training, that is, learners providing pastoral support to other learners in contrast to faculty staff mentoring learners” (2) Across the five papers in the review, three outcomes were summarized: personal and professional development, transitioning and stress reduction. For personal and professional development, 72.5% mentees reported much improvement working on a team; 61.2% reported greater respect towards themselves and mentors; 58% said they were more accountable about schoolwork; and 100% said they improved their “professionalism” skills. For transitioning, some of the studies showed support that mentoring programs helped in the transition phase of medical school. For stress reduction, some studies showed near-peer mentoring programs helped build resilience and be less stressed.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This literature review reviews the topics of mentoring and peer mentoring in higher education. It then expands to the mentoring of Hispanic students. “As established by Zachary (2012), mentoring is a process of engagement, no one can mentor without connection, and the relationships is more successful when it is done collaboratively. Mentoring provides the mentee with a safe situation to explore new ideas with confidence” (398). The concept of empathy is briefly discussed, and this might be useful to think about related to training and development of mentoring programs. The importance of understanding culture and values of population was discussed.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This was an empirical study of a mentoring program for first-year African-American students. The mentors in this study included students (32%), faculty members (28%) and staff members (40%). The overall findings were that the students was beneficial for their transition to college. The main topics discussed were academic concerns, personal concerns, and career guidance. Despite the overall program being successful, a majority of the mentees that were mentored by peers reported a less favorable experience. Students in these relationships reported issues of availability, community, and personality conflicts. Once again, the idea of mentor training was highlighted as important for the creation and success of these programs.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This research took place at two matched universities in the UK from which 109 first year undergraduates were recruited. All participants took a series of questionnaires during the first week and 10 weeks into the semester. Peer mentoring happened at one of the institutions. Measures included: perceived stress, adaptation to university life, intention to leave (all time 2); and social support, negative affect and self-esteem (time points 1 and 2). “Peer mentored individuals showed higher levels of integration to university. Four times as many non-peer mentored students had seriously considered leaving university compared to peer mentored students. Integration partially mediated the relationship between mentoring and intention to stay at university. Moderating effects analyses indicate that mentoring may buffer the effect of the transition to University.” (928) Tinto’s theory of student retention was used to explain the results.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This article examined a “mentor leadership program under the premise of students helping students.” (122) Interviews were conducted of 40 participants which included current mentors (n = 12), new mentors (n = 8), instructors (n = 10) and students in class (n = 10). From the interviews, three themes emerged: 1) roles, 2) benefits and risks, and 3) power and resistance. For roles, five specific roles were identified: 1) connecting link; 2) peer leader; 3) learning coach; 4) student advocate; and 5) trusted friend. Three benefits were identified: 1) being able to support students; 2) reapplying concepts in their own lives; and 3) developing connections. There were some gender differences a swell with women seeing benefits in relationships and men in academics. Some of the risks and challenges of mentoring included: balancing mentor role with time and other commitments, making themselves vulnerable to students, getting emotionally attached to students and having to “let go” at the end of semester. There were a few issues of power and resistance, but fewer than the benefits recognized. The issue of resistance resonated around amount of time and pestering from the mentors.

Annotation by Eric Hall

The authors are calling this a case study which is examining the functions of mentoring in both faculty and peer mentors who participated in a first-year experience program. “The respondents tended to agree that mentoring includes providing feedback, teaching, sharing information, directing, academic goal setting, advising, encouraging, aiding, academic goal tracking, modeling, problem solving, introducing, and observing. However, they did not agree on whether mentoring includes socializing, affirming, confidence building, providing practical application, helping on assignments, calming, collaborating, advocating, personal goal setting, personal goal tracking, befriending, sheltering, or supporting.” (73) “Table 3 also illustrates that faculty and peer mentors agree there are functions that should be reserved for peer mentors, including helping on assignments, affirming, and socializing. Faculty respondents reported that it is the peer mentor’s role, not their role, to befriend and support students. On the other hand, peer mentors are unsure if it is their role to befriend and support students. Finally, findings from this study suggest there are several mentoring functions that peer and faculty mentors believe are not appropriate for an FYE program, including collaborating, personal goal setting and tracking, providing practical application, calming, confidence building, advocating, and sheltering.” (83) At the end in the implication for practice section, the authors discuss the importance of clarifying the role of the mentor to improve mentor training.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This was a systematic literature that identified 9 studies from 2006-2016 which focused on outcomes of the mentors. They were interested in mentors between 14-25 years. “Peer-to-peer mentoring was defined as a reciprocal relationship where peers of similar age and experiences (mentor) share their knowledge, skills and experiences with their peers (mentees) and provide support in a formal mentoring programme to foster positive growth and development.” (37) Interestingly, the attempted to classify the mentor training involved and ongoing adult support; these are often not discussed as much in this literature. The four important outcomes highlighted were: personal growth (changed perception of identity); psychosocial well-being (e.g., enhanced leadership skills); universality of the shared experience (connection with mentees); and mentor experiences (feel they could make a difference).

Annotation by Eric Hall

This is a review of previous literature reviews around peer mentoring as “peer mentoring is often considered the single most effective strategy for increasing student retention and student satisfaction.” (abstract, 265). The role of the peer mentor is often seen as having multiple functions—academic advisor, confidante, friend, study buddy, career advisor, support, and role model. The article highlights the issues with defining mentoring and the importance of “setting the boundary conditions” for mentoring (272). For this paper, they write “mentoring programs had specified function, as did the mentor – to encourage student engagement and their sense of belonging the university.” (272-273). A major conclusion from the paper was that there appears to be no best/standard practice for mentoring, but diversity does matter in these relationships.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This research study examined the benefits of both mentors and mentees in peer mentoring program. The participants were 107 first-year business students (mentees) and 16, 4^th year mentors. The goals of the mentoring program were to help first-years students adjust to the university and for the 4^th year student to get leadership experience. The mentoring model used in this program was based on the four domains identified by Crisp and Cruz (2009): psychological and emotional support; goal setting and career path; academic subject knowledge support; and the existence of a role model. Mentees regard identified the acquisition of subject knowledge and support as the most beneficial aspect of the mentoring program, as well as the biggest challenge. The mentors reported being a role model the most beneficial aspect of the mentoring experience, but also the most challenging. The findings of this study need to be taken in light of the mentoring program being within a departmental context and what the goals were for the mentors and mentees.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This is an empirical study that examined mentor’s attachment style and self-efficacy and mentor-provided support. “Results showed that mentor self-efficacy mediated the relation between an avoidant attachment style and mentor-reported support; that is, peer mentors with a more avoidant attachment style reported lower self-efficacy to mentor and, in turn, endorsed providing lower levels of support for mentees” (67). Mentor–mentee contact; however, was the only predictor of mentees’ ratings of mentor support. “Potential peer mentors should feel comfortable (a) assisting students with academic, social, and personal challenges, (b) serving as a role model, (c) discussing their own academic and social experiences and challenges, (d) connecting students to campus resources, and (e) helping mentees to develop academic skills that allow them to function more autonomously in college” (85).

Annotation by Eric Hall

The author uses an integrative literature review process to examine peer mentoring within first year programs. The author found seven articles which they reviewed. From this review, four issues emerged: 1) lack of a consistent peer mentoring definition; 2) theoretical and methodological issues of concern, 3) unexpected findings that impact program results, and 4) international comparisons. (9) The author suggests, “Tinto’s (1975) integration and social support framework appears to be most appropriate for assessing peer mentoring on retention as it relates to social and academic integration into college” (12).

Annotation by Eric Hall

This literature review discussed how some of the traditional definitions of mentoring may be falling out of favor. In traditional definitions of mentoring the career function may have carried more weight, but in more recently the psychosocial aspects of mentoring are becoming more prominent. To show this diversity in thinking, the authors describe nine mentoring alternatives or types: formal; informal; diverse; electronic; comentoring/collaborative; group; peer; multilevel; and cultural mentoring. Throughout the discussion of different mentoring options, it seems that issues related to DEI are present, as well as the recognition that development is not one-way, “mentees and mentors alike are learner, comentor, and change agent” (32).

Annotation by Eric Hall

This is a short article based on a presentation about developing peer-mentoring programs with a students-as-partners approach. While the article didn’t talk much about the content of the presentation, there was one question that they posed that is noteworthy to consider when designing: “Who better to expose the implicit or hidden curriculum of university than those who are already on that journey?” (114)

Annotation by Eric Hall

This was an article written for a more general audience and was based on a previous study done by the participants and tried to provide practical implications for the reader. “Indeed, we found that the best matches integrated these two factors, in an approach we call relational instrumentality. That is, the incom­ing students were most successful when their mentors didn’t just help them meet their immediate needs but also bonded with them personally” (48). “Effective mentors build trusting relationships with their mentees and adopt mentee-centric, respectful approaches. This begins with establishing the right kind of match, but it also includes ensuring that the pairs share a strong commitment to the match and engage in activities that promote relational instrumentality” (50). From this they discuss four strategies to help with this: 1) building relationally instrumental matches; 2) fostering trust, 3) mentee-centric mentoring and 4) committing to the process.

Annotation by Eric Hall

This research article discussed a peer mentoring program that was an orientation to Social Sciences program with the primary goal to develop social networks  at the University College Dublin. This program mentors about 500 students with 66 peer mentors. In this study, peer mentors helped design and deliver the program and then some served as co-researchers. Three themes were identified for the mentors. First, peer mentors built relationships amongst students as well as university staff; the latter suggesting that the partnership approach worked. Second, there was a disconnect in expectations and experience of the program. Mentors expected to have more of an altruistic benefit for the mentees, but felt that much of their role was pragmatic helping navigate the university and less relational. Finally, as a result of not having the relational experience they expected, mentors experienced disappointment and feelings of rejection.

Annotation by Eric Hall

Cooper et al. have been cited in several recent publications about fostering relationships in college. The authors suggest that using nameplates to facilitate addressing students by name leads to relationship gains, even if faculty wouldn’t otherwise remember students’ names. Cooper et al. studied a high-enrollment biology class in which instructors used active-learning strategies and asked students to use name tents – folded card stock on which students wrote their names. At the end of the semester, the instructors could name approximately half of their students when looking at a deidentified photo roster, but 78% of the students surveyed thought the instructors knew their names (5). Moreover 23% of the students indicated that instructors knowing their names contributed to student-instructor relationships (7). 

Annotation contributed by Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital

Costa and Mims describe using notecards to check-in with students at the beginning or end of class as a way to build rapport. In this “Quick Fix” article, they describe distributing index cards to their students periodically during the semester. They ask students to respond to questions about their stress level, self-care plans, or recent good news, and the instructors respond either individually or with synthesized responses to the class. Costa and Mims write, “Setting aside five minutes during class has allowed us to quickly and easily learn (1) what is currently causing distress, (2) the good and the bad things that are going on in students’ lives, and (3) whether students are utilizing resources on campus that they might need. As a result, notecard check-ins have fostered a greater sense of connection between us and our students” (33). 

Annotation contributed by Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital

Alise de Bie provides an interesting editorial explaining Mad(ness) Studies – “an area of scholarship and pedagogy establishing roots in the academy, has emerged as a result of this activism and is principally inspired by and concerned with Mad people’s ways of knowing, being and doing (Menzies, LeFrancois, and Reaume 2013; Reville 2013)” (2). Her inclusion of Mad people includes: “(service) users, (psychiatric) survivors, consumers, patients, disabled, Mad (for an overview see Reaume [2002]; Speed [2006])” (2). The four main themes include: 1) equality; 2) interpersonal concord and consensus; 3) mutual collaboration; and 4) inclusion. The article brings up many excellent points about how certain voices may be valued more in Students as Partners practices and that conflict may be fine – everything does not have to be okay. 

Annotation contributed by Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital

The use of fictive kin by African American communities is a longstanding practice. Beyond extended families, fictive kin are relationships elevated to the status of familial and have been effective in creating nuanced support networks, and tangible social capital for historically underrepresented minority groups (HURM). The authors find that first-generation students who create a network of fictive kinships across peers, faculty, student life, and administrators associate their persistence, self-efficacy, sense of belonging and perceived inclusion with the engagement in these relationships. Relationship building should consider the effectiveness of a fictive kinship models and approaches.

Annotation contributed by Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital

Henscheid, Skipper, and Young identify the importance of reflection, integration, and application in their piece about Intentional Design Strategies for Senior Capstone Experiences. They suggest that these three elements can aid in developing advanced “analytical and critical thinking, communication skills, employment skills, problem-solving competencies, and team-building.” In addition, in order to foster an environment in which reflection, integration, and application are used to their fullest potential there must be a meaningful educational experience for the student. Something unique and quite important is the acknowledgment that a meaningful educational experience can be different for each individual. Overall, the piece unfolds how to build experiences that “provide structured opportunities for applied learning.”

The authors describe four capstone experiences that promote application of learning:

• Independent Research Experiences: Apply what students have learned to   Real world experiences allow the student to expand their knowledge even more.
• Internships: Allows students to go beyond curriculum and apply what they have learned to the workforce.
• Service Learning: Apply classroom information to community problems.
• Preprofessional Capstones: Allow students to apply academic content in real-world contexts attentive to disciplinary or professional standards.

These experiences, not only are reflective in nature but also suggest that the student take time to reflect on their own interests, needs, and desires, as they move forward in integrating and applying what they have learned.

This piece expands on different ways in which students can engage in learning experiences that support reflection, integration, and application. Breaking down examples of these types of learning experiences can help us to better understand what elements of those experiences really lend themselves to cycles of reflection, integration, and application.

Annotation contributed by Sophie Miller, 2021-2024 CEL Student Scholar

Ryan identifies reflection as a process that should be taught. This article shares analysis of a project that collected data across different university courses in Education, Health, Business, Law and Creative Industries in one Australian university. Ryan uses Bain et al.’s (2002) terminology of the 5 Rs – reporting, responding, relating, reasoning, and reconstructing – to sort her data. However, she slims it down to 4 R’s by combining “reporting” and “responding.” The four resulting categories consist of: reporting and responding, relating, reasoning, and reconstructing. These are ordered from the most basic level of reflection to the highest level of reflection. Ryan’s larger project involves semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 40 volunteer staff and 40 volunteer students from across university faculties, along with samples of reflective work from 60 participating students across faculties. Based on her analysis, Ryan explores why reflection is critical to learning and to application of knowledge.

Annotation contributed by Sophie Miller, 2021-2024 CEL Student Scholar

This piece explores how helpful it may be to have prior knowledge in academic situations. Specifically, the authors researched pre-service music teachers and their performance relative to whether they received related instruction prior to a lecture or not. The findings show that relevant instruction produced higher performance during the lecture. Having the ability to integrate prior learning and experience is deemed to be extremely beneficial in this situation. Not only is prior knowledge important, but the knowledge structures the teachers have in their brains are vital to the retrieval of information while in the classroom (p. 713).

Annotation contributed by Sophie Miller, 2021 CEL Student Scholar