What is Peer Mentorship

Faculty within academic departments, colleges, and universities are now routinely faced with the decision to offer courses or programs in an online environment in addition to the more traditional, face-to-face classroom format. These decisions are made both by an individual faculty member who wants to expand teaching and learning formats to include online learning, to entire departments that decide to offer an entire program/course of study online. The regular school year (August through May) offers faculty many opportunities to present both online and hybrid courses. There is much research in the efficacy of online learning as well as specific types of pedagogical tools such as type of feedback provided to students (Morgan & Toledo, 2006). However, little research has been done on the possibilities that the summer school session provides to meet the needs of students who are enrolled in traditional, residential programs but living at home during the summer as well as learners who are interested in completing a specific course but not enrolled during the regular school year. The summer school session offered by most universities opens unique opportunities for faculty and students as well as academic departments and colleges to be involved in online courses.