Widening the circle: Faculty-student support groups as innovative practice in higher education.

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
William A. Kealy, Visiting Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Faculty-student support groups have the potential to promote strategies for co-mentorship in places of learning. They can also function to facilitate alternative forms of pedagogical practice in the context of lifelong learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe ideas and practices in the innovative development of faculty-student support groups in higher education. The authors provide a context for introducing the model of a co-mentoring support group, for considering institutional dynamics in forming comentoring support groups, for illustrating a case study analysis of a university-based support group, for providing a collegial response to the mentoring literature, for considering the need to formalize mentoring programs and outcomes, for exploring challenges to and benefits of the support group effort, and finally for envisioning comentoring support groups more generally. The authors argue that more attention needs to be given to studying alternative pedagogical practices that enable mutualistic relationships to endure. This article accordingly offers an original holistic guide for viewing mentoring as interconnected cycles and phases of lifelong learning.

Additional Information

Publication
Interchange: A Quarterly Review of Education, 31(1), 35-60
Language: English
Date: 2000
Keywords
Faculty-student support group, Higher education, Comentorship, Innovative practice, Reflective self-study, Collaborative inquiry, Professional development, Lifelong learning, Traditional mentorship, Holistic life-system

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