Student Debriefing and Mentoring A Vital Area of WIL Programmes

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Student Debriefing and Mentoring A Vital Area
of WIL Programmes Surrey (UK) Neil I. Ward,
Jenny Willis, Andrea Marcilla Swinburne (Aust)
Bob Laslett Waikato (NZ) Richard K.
Coll Victoria (Canada) Norah McCrae n.ward_at_surre
y.ac.uk
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Workshop Overview

• Framework Introduction
• Debriefing and Mentoring
• Activity 1 Debriefing
• Activity 2 Mentoring
• Possible Methods of Good Practice

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Learning from WIL placements!

• the core of WIL is the student experience
• wealth of knowledge, experience, personal and
  professional development
• how is student debriefing and mentoring
  effectively undertaken?
• how is post-placement reflective practice
  integrated into the subsequent academic
  experience (final year/career)?

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Learning from WIL placements!

• What benefits can be gained for
• (1) the post-placement student /employer
• (2) the overall programme (guidance manuals or
  websites, annual reviews, quality audits, future
  planning, etc)
• (3) the pre-placement student (who may respond to
  peer input rather than academic or administrative
  advice)

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Activity 1 Debriefing

• Group Discussion - 20 minutes
• Group Feedback (all) 10 minutes
• What is debriefing for?
• What methods of debriefing are used?
• In terms of Good Practice what method of
  debriefing is the most effective?

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Common Methods of Debriefing

• Group discussion (discipline, language support,
  skills unit)
• 1-to-1 tutor/mentor
• Questionnaires
• Written reports or oral presentations
• Networking/Workshops/Conferences
• Websites
• Social events (student-based)

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Questions - Debriefing

• are tutors sensitive enough and/or trained to the
  perceptions of the student?
• feedback discipline-led review of difficulties
  focus on pay publications marks career
  opportunities.
• feedback statistics for the university,
  institutional audits, etc. But what action is
  taken?

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Debriefing Reflective Practice

• Debriefing ends up being a recounting of
  activity rather than an opportunity to reflect,
  analyse learning, synthesize and move to a higher
  level of understanding
• What ways might we undertake debriefings that
  truly support meaningful reflection?
• (Norah McCrae, 2008)

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Mentoring

• Mentoring comes from the Greek myth where
  Odysseus entrusts the education of his son to his
  friend Mentor

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Activity 2 Mentoring

• Group Discussion - 20 minutes
• Group Feedback (all) 10 minutes
• Who is the Mentor in WIL?
• What are effective methods of mentoring?
• In terms of Good Practice which methods are the
  most effective?

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What is a Mentor?

• having sensitivityto show the way
• asks questions and challenges existing beliefs,
  whilst providing guidance and encouragement
• a suitably experienced person who acts as a
  confidential colleague and a guide who encourages
  professional development (Inst. Eng Tech be
  connected)

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A Mentor Can Offer!

• A different perspective
• Challenges based on experience
• Encouragement
• Help getting motivated (especially when the going
  gets tough)
• Help setting goals and defining how to achieve
  them

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Questions - Mentoring

• Who benefits from mentoring?
• Who is the mentor? - academic tutor, industrial
  supervisor, programme director, specialist in
  education, alumni, peers and/or post-placement
  student
• Is the person fit for the purpose?
• Are they interested ?
• Training and monitoring

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Advantages Post-Placement Student Being a Mentor?

• Continue their own personal development (CV)
• Develop their management skills
• Broaden and deepen their own knowledge
• Gain satisfaction from being able to encourage,
  support or guide others
• Widen the network with other young professionals

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Possible Methods of Good Practice

• Debriefing .
• Mentoring .
• Other comments .

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Impact of Workshop

• A WIL programme should never remain static!
• A critical force promoting the need for change is
  the student experience
• Briefing Monitoring Assessment Debriefing
  Reflection Mentoring etc are all important