Students Helping Students E-Book

Fred B. Newton

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 446

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

This second edition offers a practical training guide for college students who serve as leaders, tutors, counselors, or advisors for their peers. This thoroughly revised and updated volume contains a fundamental discussion on student growth and development and provides learning objectives and self-discovery exercises to help student leaders with tasks such as tutoring, student orientation, residence hall advising, crisis intervention, coaching, and more. Students Helping Students includes: * Updates on the most current research and the latest advances in technology * A revised model that contains service learning and student retention programs * The results of two intervention strategies: the Health Behaviors Assessment and the College Learning Effectiveness Inventory, which focus on the topics of wellness and academic success * Descriptive overviews of peer programs addressing sexuality, safety, violence reduction, residence life, online peer connections, and more Praise for the Second Edition of Students Helping Students "This new work remains the definitive standard in the field. It should be on the bookshelf of every student affairs professional and is an important tool for preparing peer educators for providing service."--Ernest Pascarella, professor and Mary Louise Petersen Chair in Higher Education, University of Iowa "The second edition of Students Helping Students teems with useful material that can be thoughtfully applied by peer helpers. The what, so what, and now what framework reflectively guides the reader to self-discovery and thoughtful practical applications. Being a peer helper is a high-impact learning experience made intentional through the pages of this fine book."--Susan R. Komives, professor of college student personnel, University of Maryland and president, Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

THE JOSSEY-BASS HIGHER AND ADULT EDUCATION SERIES

Table of Figures

List of Tables

Foreword

PREFACE

ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THIS EDITION

USE OF THE BOOK

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

CHAPTER 1 - Peer Educators on the College Campus

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEER EDUCATION

DEFINITIONS

WHY ARE PEER EDUCATORS EFFECTIVE?

THE IMPACT ON YOU AS A PEER EDUCATOR

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRAINING MODEL

SUMMARY

CHAPTER ONE: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 2 - Student Maturation and the Impact of Peers

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

YOUR OWN CHANGE AND GROWTH

DEFINITIONS

FIVE PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE YOUR WORK

KEY FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENTAL CHALLENGES CONFRONTING COLLEGE STUDENTS

CONDITIONS THAT PROMOTE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

SUMMARY

CHAPTER TWO: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 3 - Enhancing Cultural Proficiency

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

PRINCIPLES FOR CULTURAL PROFICIENCY

STEREOTYPES

PREJUDICE

DENIAL AND RATIONALIZATION

DISCRIMINATION

CULTURE

COLOR BLIND

OBSTACLES TO CULTURAL PROFICIENCY

THE CULTURAL RESPONSE MATRIX

CULTURAL FLUENCY

SUMMARY

CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 4 - Interpersonal Communication Skills

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

WHEN TO PROVIDE MORE THAN ADVICE

DRAWING THE LINE BETWEEN ADVICE AND EXPLORATION

ADVICE GIVING IS EASY

CHARACTERISTICS OF A HELPING RELATIONSHIP

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS MODEL

FINAL THOUGHTS

SUMMARY

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 5 - Problem Solving with Individuals

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS

STRATEGIES FOR PROBLEM SOLVING

PROBLEM SOLVING OUTSIDE THE BOX

SUMMARY

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 6 - Understanding Group Process

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

ADVANTAGES OF GROUPS

A GROUP IS A SYSTEM

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT AND GROUP MATURATION

FACTORS THAT PROMOTE POSITIVE GROUP FUNCTIONING

SUMMARY

CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 7 - Leading Groups Effectively

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

PRACTICES OF SUCCESSFUL LEADERS

PRACTICAL TIPS AND STRATEGIES

GROUP EXPERIENCES FOR INTERPERSONAL GROWTH

SPECIAL PROBLEMS CONFRONTING PEER EDUCATORS LEADING GROUPS

SUMMARY

CHAPTER SEVEN: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 8 - Strategies for Academic Success

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

STUDENT ACADEMIC SUCCESS: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

THREE CATEGORIES OF FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENT SUCCESS

PERSONAL VARIABLES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

NOW WHAT? A PROCESS MODEL TO HELP STUDENTS SUCCEED

SUMMARY

CHAPTER EIGHT: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 9 - Using Campus Resources and Referral Techniques

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

THE THREE CS: CHANGE, CHOICE, AND CONNECTION

RESOURCES AND REFERRAL

ONLINE RESOURCES

SUMMARY

CHAPTER NINE: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 10 - Ethics and Strategies for Good Practice

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN A CODE OF ETHICAL PRACTICE FOR PEER EDUCATORS?

PRINCIPLES TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF PEER PRACTICE

VALUES PROMOTION BEYOND A CODE OF ETHICS

NOW WHAT? DESIGNING A PLEDGE FOR YOUR PEER EDUCATOR SERVICE

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER TEN: SUMMARY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 11 - Examples of Peer Education Programs in Higher Education

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

RICH LEARNING: STUDY ABROAD AND SERVICE LEARNING

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

HEALTH AND WELLNESS PRACTICES

AN ENVIRONMENT OF SAFETY AND NONVIOLENCE FOR ALL

LIVING WELL TOGETHER

SUMMARY

GLOSSARY

REFERENCES

INDEX

Table of Figures

Figure 1.1 . The Training Paradigm: A Process and Reflection Model SOURCE: Adapted from Borton (1970).

Figure 2.1 . Chickering and Reisser’s “Seven Vectors of Change” SOURCE: Adapted from Chickering & Reisser (1993).

Figure 2.2 . Circles to Evaluate Congruence and Incongruence with Peers

Figure 3.1 . Matrix of Responses to Culture

Figure 4.1 . Incremental Steps for Helpful Interpersonal Communication

Figure 5.1 . Three Sources of a Problem

Figure 5.2 . Driving and Restraining Forces

Figure 5.3 . Driving and Restraining Forces Example

Figure 6.1 . Successful Communications

Figure 7.1 . Theater Seating

Figure 7.2 . Roundtable Seating

Figure 7.3 . Horseshoe Seating

Figure 7.4 . Living-Room Seating

Figure 8.1 . Factors Affecting Academic Performance

Figure 8.2 . Academic Success Process

Figure 11.1 . Exemplary Practices in Student Service Organizations with Peer Educators

Figure 11.2 . The University Life Café

List of Tables

Table 4.1 . Comparing Advice Giving to Interpersonal Communication

Table 8.1 . Differences Between Active and Passive Learning

Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Newton, Fred B.

p. cm. - (The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-45209-7 (pbk.)

1. Peer counseling of students 2. Peer-group tutoring of students.

I. Ender, Steven C. II. Title.

LB1027.5.N727 2010

371.4’047-dc22

2010009694

PB Printing

THE JOSSEY-BASS HIGHER AND ADULT EDUCATION SERIES

FOREWORD

In my four decades as a higher educator the full realization of “students helping students” has been dawning on me gradually, but powerfully and persuasively. And now, in what my friend Betty Siegel calls the “wintering into wisdom” phase of my life, I can safely posit that I believe the most important generic strategy that colleges and universities can adopt to increase student success is one that greatly increases intentional efforts for “students helping students.” How did I come upon this position?

For me, this epiphany began when I was in college. I wrote about this in November of 2009 in a blog entitled “Power to the Peers.” I insert this now in this foreword to Fred Newton’s and Steven Ender’s important second edition of Students Helping Students to serve as my foundational introductory comments on this important work.

Power to the Peers!

The ring of the header above has to reveal that I am a child of the 60s with its evocation of “power to the people.”

I confess: I am. That was the period in which I acquired my idealism which drives me still. I was inspired by President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the early feminist thinkers and leaders, the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements and the anti-war movement, in which I participated after I completed my own tour of military service, honorably and with gratitude. Anyway, to the point of this blog: students have always had power.

Decades of good research has determined that the single greatest influence on college student decision making during the college years is the influence of other students. This is one of those things like the students working in college phenomena. We can’t beat it. Why not join it? This is to say, once you recognize the enormous influence of students on students, the logical conclusion should be we need to try to influence this by putting the students we want to influence other students into positions of influence to do just that.

Inspired by uses of “peer mentors” in first-year seminars that I saw at such places as Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio) and Kean University of New Jersey, I decided in 1991, when I was the Executive Director of University 101 at the University of South Carolina, to personally be the first 101 instructor to use a “peer mentor” as a test case. It was a wonderful experience. I am indebted to my peer leader, Ms. Lisa Huttinger, for giving me and my students such a wonderful experience. And then I became even more indebted to my Co-director of University 101, Professor Dan Berman for picking up the ball and creating our powerful peer leader program at USC. Today, over 175 sections of the course annually have a peer leader.

I say “even more indebted” because my colleague, Dan Berman, had been a sophomore at Marietta College in 1961, when I was a floundering first-year student also at Marietta. And it was his spontaneous and generous reaching out to influence me, by showing me how to take lecture notes, and select really engaging professors, that I attribute more than anything else to getting me off academic probation. I often think were it not for my own “peer leader” I would never have been able to stay in college, and then go on to help other college students. So, by all means: Power to the peers!

Newton and Ender have provided us with a new manual that can tell both us and our students everything we needed to know about why students should be empowered to help students by being placed in official positions of institutional influence, and then how to influence students positively and realize concomitant personal growth and learnings themselves. This work reaffirms my own learnings on my journey that has led me to conclude that an intentional strategy for students helping students should be the foundation of institutionalized efforts to improve student success.

As indicated in my blog above, this learning journey for me began with my own college experience with that life transforming, serendipitous encounter with an upperclass student who literally “ saved” me, a failing first-year student.

It was later, in my senior year in college, that I learned the next two lessons about students helping students. The first came when a fellow student shared with me an all time best-seller book, Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving. Reading the manuscript of Students Helping Students reminds me of this lesson because of the pedagogical emphasis that Newton and Ender put on the idea that students must first know themselves before they can fulfill their potential to help others, particularly their strengths and weaknesses, and how those are revealed in interactional contexts with other students. Comparably, Fromm argued influentially that before any person (e.g., college student) can “love” another, she or he must first have attained sufficient self-esteem to have developed the capacity for self-love and respect.

My second lesson that senior year was my experience as a student government leader, the founding chair of a student judicial system that aspired to root out academic dishonesty and raise academic standards. This was, I sincerely believed, in the name of students helping students. And I found that of all my experiences in college, this was by far the most powerful. Student government interactions gave me a relatively risk-free laboratory to apply most all the skills I had been learning in my liberal arts courses: critical thinking, problem solving, persuasive writing and speaking, and more.

I have to ask, but don’t have time in this brief foreword to answer: why don’t we give students more responsibility? Students Helping Students gives us plenty of answers for why and how we should. One fine thinker I discovered on my own professional journey is my namesake but no relation, Phillip Gardner, who leads the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. Phillip Gardner is a foremost researcher on what happens to recent college graduates in positions of employment. He has even studied why some recent college graduates lose their first job after college. The most common reason: “failure to take initiative.” I believe that if we included more deliberate learning experiences for students from “students helping students” that we could produce more graduates who definitely know how to take initiative.

Another very influential thinker, and practitioner, that I have discovered in my career is a scholar and teacher whom I fondly refer to as the “guru of service learning”: Professor of English Edward Zlotkowski of Bentley University. It was Edward and his writing and speaking about the transformative educational influence of service learning who really got me to realize that the root of this influence on student development must rest in what Zlotkowski calls “reflection.” This is identical to the case that Newton and Ender make for an essential component of peer leader training to be what they call “reflection.” This argues for the necessity of having students reflect on their own learnings from the challenges they have faced in college and how those have been connected to personal learning, growth, and change. That reflection process becomes inextricably connected to the introspection process that the authors also argue is an essential part of the peer leader training component. I believe that the more we teach, encourage, insist, that students practice reflection and introspection, the higher their level of engagement will be in their remaining college courses and career.

I had been in my career for over twenty years, working on the so-called “first-year experience” reform movement, when I launched another Don Quixote crusade for what I called “the senior year experience,” which was also the title of a 1998 Jossey-Bass book. In the process of editing that work I discovered another fine scholar, Professor Ed Holton of Louisiana State University. Holton enlightened me by his persuasive analysis of how the cultures of most postcollege work environments are different from, and in many ways not compatible with, the cultures of most colleges and universities, which prepare students to enter those postcollege environments. In college students are not required to exercise nearly the same levels and extent of responsibility that they must exhibit immediately after college. In college they are told precisely what they must do, when, and how. This is frequently not the case in the world of employment, where there is much more ambiguity and space for personal differences in initiative. Students Helping Students appeals to me because I think we educators must do a better job of giving students more meaningful responsibilities, through helping and leading others, before they leave college for the real world of work. In that sense, college could also become the “real world of work.”

As I write this foreword, I do so living near a small North Carolina town, Swannanoa, which is the location of one of the very few remaining “work colleges,” as they are known in American higher education: Warren Wilson College. Here the students do virtually everything to keep the college operating and fellow students nourished: they grow and prepare the food, maintain the grounds and physical plant, and far more. Each student has an academic and a work curriculum and both are regarded as equally important. There is a chief academic officer and a “dean of work.” This is the ultimate attainment of “students helping students.” It occurs to me that a fallout from the Great Recession may be to encourage more institutions to return to more of the practices of the work college, an environment where all students help all students. Just think of the combined cost savings and learning outcomes with real-life transfer values. Students Helping Students could show the way.

Well, this is surely enough of my reflection and introspection on why colleges ought to invest more intentional educational energies into placing more students in more positions of authority to help other students; and why we should provide the intentional training and support to accomplish this. I am persuaded that this could truly leverage and increase student success. Students helping students is a process to fulfill the potential for college as both a time and context for students to explore and develop their potential for helping themselves, others, our communities, and society. Now you just need to experience Fred Newton’s and Steven Ender’s Students Helping Students for yourself. The use of this book by our students could truly be individually and institutionally life transformative. Best wishes on your own higher education journey of which students helping students is such a fundamental part.

John N. Gardner

PREFACE

The world was still celebrating the new millennium when Students Helping Students was released in the first edition. We were anticipating that higher education was entering an exciting era of new technology, increasingly diverse students, and expanded opportunities for connecting people with common interests all across the globe. We knew that peer educators were going to be an important part of our colleges and universities entering the new age. Who would be better prepared to deal with change and adjust to new challenges than those in the generation of change?

During the past ten years many milestones have occurred: the tragedy of 9/11 and the shock of vulnerability, followed by war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mark Zuckerman introduced Facebook and within months millions of students joined the new social networking club. Our libraries became 90 percent accessible from a student’s room two thousand miles away during a semester abroad. Tuition costs more than doubled at many institutions, an African American became president, tragic violent events occurred on major college campuses, and student demographics grew to represent more diversity than at any time in history. As we predicted, the decade was filled with change, even if we did not anticipate the specific changes that occurred.

Has change also taken place with peer educator roles and responsibilities on campus? The first task of our revision was to investigate the changes taking place for students serving in helping and educating roles with their fellow students. Data were readily accessible from our own campus, from colleagues around the country, and from students, the Internet, and current journals. A Google search turned up over 500 descriptions of peer education programs in nearly every service or academic unit possible on a college campus. A colleague working in Residence Life indicated that over 10 percent of residents served in peer educator positions. At another institution an estimate was made that over 30 percent of the students had actively participated in service projects during an academic year. Three trends were identified: the proliferation of peer educators in a wide range of service duties; the expansion of service delivery methods to include not only direct contacts but also electronic blogs and social networking and interactive Web sites; and the growth of peer leadership into social consciousness movements, such as matters of campus safety, advocacy for sound ecology, and responsible community. These trends are discussed further in Chapter One.

ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THIS EDITION

Updating for current trends and reporting new information and research were major reasons for revision. Feedback and experience from the first edition indicated that we could make some key improvements. Students today are active learners wanting more examples of real situations and more engagement through activities; also, conceptual maps are helpful when there is a need to explain the big picture. This edition has included many new examples, mostly collected from students in peer educator classes who have offered their stories as a part of training. A number of activities have been added as well so that you, the reader, can make your own story part of the learning. Each chapter now contains figures and graphs that illustrate many of the key points in that section of the book. We want the experience offered in the book to be engaging and an enjoyable part of your training. Another addition is a new chapter that provides several examples of peer educator programs in a variety of service areas. These are used as illustrations of the breadth of possibilities for peer educator service.

USE OF THE BOOK

Students Helping Students may function as a training manual and also as a resource guide for those in preservice or in-service preparation as peer educators. We have found that it may also be used as part of training for leadership classes training for service learning, or for paraprofessional or entry level staff training in staff positions that do not have formal specialized training in a social service or student service field.

The book is designed to utilize what is described as a reflection model, at work when you see the terms what, so what, and now what. You will go through the steps of explaining the basic principles of a concept (what), reflecting upon what this means to you and the situation of concern (so what), and anticipating how to apply and utilize the what in a real life situation (now what). Each chapter provides opportunity to go through this reflection process.

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

The book comprises eleven chapters. The first four provide the core helping foundation and personal knowledge that we believe are necessary for later skill development. As we have said, competent helping people first know themselves and the personal strengths and weaknesses they bring to the helping relationship. With this concept in mind, the first four chapters require you to be somewhat introspective in regard to yourself, the world around you, and your communication skills as a helping person.

In Chapter One, “Peer Educators on the College Campus,” we present an overview of the role you are taking up. We review the extent to which peer interventions are used on college campuses and how peer programs have been effective. We introduce the model of training and ask you to reflect upon how this experience will impact your own life.

As a peer educator, you will be assisting other students who are facing personal challenges of all types. In Chapter Two, “Student Maturation and the Impact of Peers,” we explore the types of personal changes and challenges most college-aged students experience. We explore the concept of challenge-and-response dynamics as it relates to and stimulates personal change. In this chapter, we encourage you to reflect on your own development and maturation level, assess your strengths, and consider strategies to improve areas that you note for improvement.

Chapter Three, “Enhancing Cultural Proficiency,” is extremely important to the understanding of culture and diversity of cultures and their impact on our interactions and very existence. We are a multicultural society to which people bring their various worldviews. It is important that we know and understand ourselves as cultural beings in order to understand and respect the many issues of diversity.

In Chapter Four, “Interpersonal Communication Skills: Creating the Helping Interaction,” we explore the significance of effective listening and responding skills, emphasizing both verbal and nonverbal communication patterns. Core helping areas of empathy, respect, and warmth are defined. Basic responses in helping interactions are explained with specific examples. Most important, you will learn that helping others with personal concerns is accomplished by being a competent, empathic, nonjudgmental listener.

In Chapter Five, “Problem Solving with Individuals,” we cover the topic of assisting others through the use of active problem-solving approaches. We also present the integration of communication skills with a problem-solving model, as well as other specific problem-solving techniques.

We present an overview of how groups develop and function in Chapter Six, “Understanding Group Process.” In this chapter we challenge you to heighten your awareness and subsequent attention to group communication patterns, normative behavior, decision processes, cohesion, and individual coordination toward group task. Attention to group process is a major ingredient in improving the functioning level of a group.

In Chapter Seven, “Leading Groups Effectively,” we look at the necessary characteristics of being an effective leader, as well as covering the very practical nuts and bolts of conducting productive group meetings and making group presentations. We also explore skills and methods for organizing, facilitating, and solving problems.

We provide examples of applying the peer intervention model to academic success in Chapter Eight, “Strategies for Academic Success.” This is the only chapter that demonstrates an in-depth application of how peers may offer service toward a specific area of outcome. The chapter serves as an example of implementation, using as a topic academic success, which is a goal common to all students.

In “Using Campus Resources and Referral Techniques,” Chapter Nine, we offer an overview of the process for helping students locate resources and making appropriate referrals to these resources. Among the discussed resources are physical support services and Internet and electronic resources.

In Chapter Ten, “Ethics and Strategies for Good Practice,” we introduce the need for standards of ethical behavior and discuss the issues of conduct that a peer educator might encounter.

As noted previously, we added Chapter Eleven, “Examples of Peer Education Programs in Higher Education,” to present a range of examples of how peer educators function in a variety of services. This edition also provides a glossary as a resource aid.

As you begin the process of learning effective helping skills we encourage you to explore yourself and your potential for the future. It is the same exploration and encouragement that you will give others on a daily basis in your role of peer educator. We hope you find both training and serving others to be as exciting and personally relevant as we have in our own lives. You are in a position to make a difference in the life experience of others. We challenge you to make the most of the exciting life experience. Enjoy the ride!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are many who contributed to this revised work. We feel gratitude to them for their contributions of time and effort and, most important, for their willingness to share very forthright suggestions.

First, we greatly appreciate important inputs from the Jossey-Bass editor, Erin Null. She provided excellent suggestions with input from reviewers on how to make significant improvements in this edition. Her suggestions nudged and challenged us to open our minds to some new ways of presenting material. And this was done with the right amount of encouragement and support.

Next, we received a lot of informational inputs directly and indirectly from a number of professionals that were supervising and organizing peer educator programs. Direct inputs came from several professionals who offered interviews and described the details of their peer programs. We thank Mary Tolar, Carol Kennedy, Dianna Schalles, Sarah Tedford, Camilla Roberts, and John O’Connell for these inputs. Informally, we reviewed online descriptions from more programs than we can enumerate in a paragraph. This is another benefit of the Internet: providing “show and tell” access to the world.

Another valuable experience was visiting over a dozen classes where peer educators were being trained and receiving their ideas through open discussion. These students tried out many of the activities from the book and provided very candid feedback. Students not only helped students but they were also invaluable help to the authors. Special thanks to students Rebecca Steinert, Tammy Osborn, and Tammy Sonnentag for research and editorial inputs from students’ perspectives.

I want to especially thank those who participated in the production of this book by offering suggestions, editing, research, and assistance with many of the details that made the final product possible. Eunhee Kim served as assistant in charge of research and made inputs with the chapter on student success. John O’Connell, a long time friend and colleague, served as a consultant on content for chapters on the college student and facilitative communication. Brenda Schoendaller managed to protect, organize, and make sure the detailed tasks were completed on time.

Extremely valuable contributions were made by two consultants serving as proof editors to read, correct, suggest, and improve drafts of this book. Shalin Hai Jew supported the completion of the first draft of the book. Both her expertise on technology and her writing skills were great assets. Katherine Harder, with only a couple of weeks notice, was able to help us polish the final draft. She was indeed a gift to find at the crunch time of preparation.

Last but certainly not least I want to recognize Ata Karim for contributing the initial writing of Chapter Three on “Enhancing Cultural Proficiency” and sharing his expertise in that area, and Rita Ross for adapting the concepts of culture and competence into practical applications for peer education training. She has also been a great source of personal support over the year of production.

We also want to recognize the authors who were the first to create an early version of Students Helping Students in 1979. Theodore K. Miller and Sue Saunders were pioneers in this effort, along with Steven Ender, coauthor of this book. We are grateful to these authors for releasing the copyright to us and letting their original text be updated and expanded. You will note sections that contain a reference to their work.

Fred B. NewtonSteven C. Ender

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Fred B. Newton is director of counseling services and professor of counseling and educational psychology at Kansas State University. At the University of Missouri-Columbia he received an EPDA (Education Professions Development Act) fellowship while completing a doctorate in counseling psychology. He also has a master’s degree in student personnel services from Ohio State University.

Dr. Newton’s early career included teaching and coaching in the public schools, serving as director of a community recreation program, and directing the student activities program at a community college. He has held a faculty position in the Department of Counseling and Human Development at the University of Georgia and was coordinator of career counseling and associate professor of education at Duke University.

He has been active as an author and researcher, having contributed chapters to seventeen professional books and written over sixty articles for professional journals. Other professional contributions include over a hundred presentations to professional and other public audiences. He has been involved internationally with presentations in Europe and Asia and has publications that have been printed in Japan and Australia.

Over the past twenty years, Dr. Newton has served as a training consultant to students and staff in over fifty college settings, including colleges in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, and Japan. He has helped establish workshops and training programs in areas of leadership, organizational development, and peer counseling. He has been involved with the implementation of six grant programs sponsored by foundations and federal government programs. Currently, he is director of Kansas State Comprehensive Assessment Tool, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that develops and distributes assessment instruments for measuring input and outcome variables on student success.

Dr. Newton has been recognized for excellence in his teaching and service contributions to professional associations. He received the Annuit Coeptis Award from the American College Personnel Association, the Walter Morrison Service contribution finalist by the Kansas State Foundation, and Emerging Entrepreneurs finalist by Commercialization Leadership Council of Kansas State Research Foundation.

Steven C. Ender became the ninth president of Grand Rapids Community College in May 2009. During his more than thirty years in higher education, Dr. Ender has held numerous teaching, counseling, and administrative positions and has published extensively in refereed journals as well as textbooks. His most recent professional position prior to the GRCC presidency was serving as president of Westmoreland Community College. A Richmond, Virginia, native, Dr. Ender holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Virginia Commonwealth University; master’s and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Georgia; and has completed post-doctoral studies at The Snowmass Institute in Snowmass, Colorado, and Harvard University.

Among his honors and achievements, in 2002 Dr. Ender was named to the National Advisory Board for “Helping Teens Succeed,” a college transition program. He received the Pennsylvania Association for Developmental Educators Award for Research and Publication in 1998, and the Award for Excellence from the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh in 1993. As a young man, he achieved Eagle Scout status.

Dr. Ender serves on the Economic and Workforce Development Commission of the American Association of Community Colleges, the Lifelong Learning Commission of the American Council on Education, and the board of the National Junior College Athletic Association as a presidential representative.

Dr. Ender resides in Grand Rapids with his wife, Karen Gislason Ender, and is the father of two adult children, Joanna DiCiurcio and Mason Ender.

CHAPTER 1

Peer Educators on the College Campus

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this chapter, you will be able to

1. Explain to others the role of college students serving as peer educators.

2. List several helping positions on college campuses that are staffed by peer educators.

3. Describe how your personal experience has demonstrated important principles of a helpful relationship.

4. Understand and be able to employ an active process model of learning that includes three elements—sensing, personalizing, and acting.

5. Explain the importance of role modeling within the helping role.

6. Define how the terms peer educator, role model, mentor, and professional may have similarities and differences.

The Case of Joe Freshman

Joe Freshman arrives on campus the summer before his enrollment and an ambassador gives him a tour of the facilities and a general overview of what it is like to be a student here. Joe also stops by the Financial Aid office to find out about his application for funding and talks with a financial advisor, who answers his questions. Later, he moves into the residence hall where his resident assistant helps him get set up with residence life. Joe enrolls and takes a First Year Experience Orientation class, where he meets in a weekly seminar with a recitation leader. Part of the Orientation class assignment is to complete a career online assessment; a career specialist helps interpret his results. At mid-term, needing help with his college algebra, Joe makes an appointment with a tutor. Joe is determined to avoid the “freshmen 15,” so he signs up for a personal trainer at the campus recreation center. If he needs health advice he has access to a SHAC (student health advisor), a SHAPE (sexual health awareness peer educator), or a SNAC (student nutrition peer educator). And, heaven forbid, if Joe has a problem and is accused of breaking the academic honesty code, resulting in an appearance before a student judiciary, he would be assigned a HIPE (Honor and Integrity Peer Educator) and may be told to complete an ABC (Assessment for Behavior Change) with a peer mentor.

Joe still needs to complete his first semester and he already has had contact with at least thirteen peer educators on campus. The potential for Joe is that he will meet at least twice as many fellow students serving in peer educator roles before he leaves campus. His first vocabulary word in college is ubiquitous, as in “peer educators are ubiquitous.” Peers in trained support roles will be a very big part of his education!

This story about Joe might be hypothetical, but the examples of peer educators in this paragraph are authentic. The use of peer educators in the college environment has grown substantially over the past two decades. The involvement of undergraduates in peer assistance roles on college campuses has been identified in more than 75 percent of all higher education institutions (Brack, Millard, & Shah, 2008; Carns, Carns, & Wright, 1993). On today’s college campuses, peer educators are involved in providing a wide range of supportive service activities. These services, cutting across a variety of peer educator roles, include providing information, explaining policies and procedures, orienting new students, making referrals, offering specific help strategies for problem-related counseling issues, implementing social and educational programs, enforcing rules, providing academic advising, facilitating community development, offering tutoring, helping with financial management, performing diversity training, and providing crisis intervention services.

Peer educators are valuable for an academic institution because they are experienced with the campus, they are economical to the budget, they can relate to the situations of fellow students, and they are effective. The student serving as a peer educator also benefits; the peer educator learns new skills, gains relevant practice experience, and contributes to the community. For some, it will last a year or two, and for others, it will initiate new career objectives and lifelong personal change. In either case, we believe you will find the peer educator role to be both challenging and rewarding. If you take up one of the many peer educator positions open on modern college campuses, you will have the opportunity to make positive and, in some cases, significant differences in the lives of other students. We believe you will find the personal rewards of serving as a peer educator substantial—and the responsibilities as well. In short, we believe this training program and your subsequent experience as a helping person will have a very powerful impact on your own life, allowing you to explore and extend yourself to make the most of your own best qualities.

Reflection Point 1.1: You, as a Peer Helper

Describe why you have chosen to pursue a peer educator position on your campus.

What personal characteristics do you possess that indicate that you are, or can be, a helping person?

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEER EDUCATION

The use of undergraduates in helping roles on college and university campuses has a long and rich history. Students in residence halls have served as resident assistants, proctors, hall counselors, and advisers since the early 1900s (Powell, Pyler, Dickerson, & McClellan, 1969). Student tutors have been assisting their peers as a direct way to provide academic assistance since the colonial period of American history (Materniak, 1984). In the 1950s, a peer mentoring program, as a didactic education strategy, was implemented at the University of Nebraska. The success of this program led to the expansion of peer educating as a mechanism for improving retention and academic success (Sawyer, Pinciaro, & Bedwell, 1997; Terrion & Leonard, 2007).

During the past twenty years some significant changes have occurred in the use of peer educators. First, as we have already noted, there has been a proliferation in the use of peer educators into nearly every aspect of college academic and student service. Second, along with increase in the number of roles for peer educators comes broader use of multiple delivery methods. In addition to traditional one-on-one contact, there has been an increase in peer educators’ involvement with organizational strategies, classroom and group programs, and Web sites and electronic communication. Finally, in the past decade more activist forms of peer movements have begun in response to issues of harassment, violence, and other trauma on campus. Such counter movements to make the campus safer and more responsive as a community were due, at least in part, to an increase of shootings and acts of terror (Birchard, 2009). Peer educators are now playing a significant leadership role in campaigns to provide support groups, nonviolence, and better safety procedures for reducing trauma, connecting students to service, and developing more supportive campus communities.

Exercise 1.1: Peer Educators on Your Campus

Identify the types of peer educator roles on your campus.

In these roles, what types of strategies are used for providing assistance: one-to-one contact, working with groups or organizations, online or electronic medium, or some combinations of all of these?

Although peer educator involvement is possible in nearly every student service and academic department, our intent in this book is not to cover the job description and content information for all the ways peer educators may serve on a college campus. Instead, we focus on the basic skills for working effectively as a peer helper, no matter the specific capacity. This book is titled Students Helping Students, and in a broad sense that is exactly the purpose of this book: to provide preparation, skill training, helpful resources, and thoughtful discussion for students working as peer educators. We intend this book to be both a primer for preparation and a handbook of resources for those in the wide range of service roles and responsibilities mentioned in the paragraphs above.

The first step in this training process is to define key terms and concepts that will be used throughout the book.

DEFINITIONS

You have already seen that many terms seem synonymous with “peer educator.” To name a few: peer counselor, ambassador, student coach, peer mentor, student assistant, class recitation facilitator, tutor, resident assistant, and orientation leader. Each of these descriptive names reflects the various nuances and characteristics of the roles and responsibilities taken on by the peer educator. Peer educator is a comprehensive and generally unifying term that encompasses the many other descriptive terms just given. Peer educators are students who have been selected, trained, and designated by a campus authority to offer educational services to their peers. These services are intentionally designed to assist peers toward attainment of educational goals. The following questions clarify further the concept of students helping students as peer educators.

What Is Meant by Students Helping Students?

Who is the student who helps and who is the student recipient of help? Are these upper class or more advanced students assisting younger and more novice students? Does this include graduate students? The defining characteristic of a helper is someone who is in some ways more knowing, more experienced, and more capable in a designated area of service than the people being helped. But class status, age, or years of experience is not as important as the effectiveness of the peer educator in providing service. For example, those who are motivated and capable of providing service might make more effective peer educators than those with higher status or more experience but less motivation to help. Most importantly, effectiveness can be enhanced through preparation and training. This book is designed to provide you with knowledge, skills, and personal awareness to prepare and enhance your effectiveness as a peer educator.

What Is Helping?

Along with helping, terms such as facilitating, mentoring, advising, instructing, education, aiding, assisting, leading, and counseling are used. These terms convey the specific function of a peer educator. But in truth, there are many shades of difference between the student helping with orientation, the student as a tutor, the student as mentor for achieving an outcome, or the student as an advisor. One basic characteristic of a peer educator is that of provider. A provider may offer a service of a specific nature; this can be information, support, or facilitating action such as decision making or task accomplishment in the best interest of another person. A helping relationship implies that there is value added as a result of the encounter. The peer educator is a helper.

How Is a Peer Educator Different from a Professional Helper?

A professional differs from a peer educator in level of training, preparation, experience, and by job designation. The professional must be qualified by meeting standards of competence and training established by the institution, the discipline, or other authority. Their titles such as counselor, professor, dean, adviser, or director denote both the status and level of responsibility. One important aspect of your training as a peer educator will be to learn where the level of your competence to assist others ends and where the knowledge and skills of the professional must take over to provide the optimal learning experience for another student. We cover the importance of personal boundaries and knowing limits of peer service as well as the skills and knowledge necessary for making appropriate referrals and ethical behaviors in Chapters Nine and Ten.

Reflection Point 1.2: Peer Educator versus Professional Responsibilities

What are the primary differences between the type of assistance you are going to provide to other students and the assistance given to students in your sponsoring agency by your professional counterparts?

WHY ARE PEER EDUCATORS EFFECTIVE?

What the Research Says

There are several reasons peer educators produce positive results in assisting student success for a variety of outcomes. One explanation may be that the peer educator is slightly ahead in experience and awareness of what a student seeking help may be going through but not so removed as to seem unable to identify and understand his or her situation (Lockspeiser, O’Sullivan, Teherani, & Muller, 2008). Illustrating this idea, one student noted that relating with her peer educator was like “being able to relate to someone who has been through similar experience but still understands and won’t judge me for needing input on what may seem unimportant.” Indeed, sensitive topics such as dating relationships, health and sexuality, or personal finances may be discussed without the embarrassment of talking to a “more” adult figure (Good, Halpin, & Halpin, 2000; Sawyer et al., 1997). That students feel more compatible with a peer educator who has similar learning styles and who approaches the world from a similar generational perspective is exemplified in the Beloit College Mindset List, a yearly publishing of the events that have occurred and affected the lives of a contemporary cohort of students (see http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/). The world events, the newest technologies, popular entertainers, sports events, movies, music, well-known public figures, major political and social issues, wars, economic trends, fads and fashions, and even the popular lingo are ways that mark the times and frequently separate the generations. The underlying concept is that students seek advice from and are influenced by the expectations, attitudes, and behaviors of their peer group. Peer influence in many situations may be stronger than that of adults such as teachers, parents, and other experts (Mellanby, Rees, & Tripp, 2000).

Peer educators have been demonstrated to be effective helpers when provided systematic training in interpersonal communication and relationship skills (Carkhuff, 1969; Daniels & Ivey, 2007; Terrion & Leonard, 2007). Though effective human relations skills are useful in helping students with specific levels of need to explore and resolve questions of information, resource, support, and normal developmental transitions, they do not replace the more in-depth exploration of emotional, mental, or behavioral concerns that require expertise of a professional. A peer educator can be trained to meet some needs, but some needs require additional support.

What Experience Has Taught You About Helping

All of us have received emotional support, insight, or help resolving a problem situation from family, friends, teachers, counselors, or even strangers. Take time to acknowledge and understand what you already know about helping based upon life experience that has provided positive results.

Experiential learning results from the happenstance of moving through life. Instead of learning exclusively from the theory-based lessons of a book or class, you can also look at how life experience has provided you with an important template for the helping moment. Perhaps you learned something about helping as a result of seeking out a person when a need was present. Or in many cases a meaningful event happened that seemed random, serendipitous, and unplanned, but it nonetheless provided you with extremely useful information, emotional support, and encouragement—it added to your well-being and made your day. The best way to tap this type of learning is to ask you to reflect on these moments directly and to share similar experiences with a group that you may be training with. Illustrations can also be shared by other peer educators. Exercise 1.2 can be done individually but it is more beneficial when the activity and discussion can be shared with a group.

Exercise 1.2: Brief Moments That Make a Difference

Think over the past several days about the many little encounters you may have had—some with friends, some with family, but others maybe with people you hardly know: the clerk in a store, the person sitting behind you in a class, the individual who gave you directions when you were lost, or the instructor who made a special comment on your essay. Note the context of the encounter, what happened, and why it was meaningful to you. What was it about the quality of the interaction and the way the person responded to you that made it significant? Write down a short description of the encounter. No matter how short-lived in time the encounter actually was, make your description a brief story noting the action and the attitude, the situation, and the resulting impact upon you.

What was it about the encounter that made it meaningful, helpful, or created the positive impression? If you are learning with a group, individual members may share these reflections and explanations of the helpful encounter.

What can you take from this meaningful moment as a lesson for being helpful?

Discussion

The following are examples from other classes of peer educators.

• A custodial worker in a residence hall offered a personal greeting and friendly smile each day to residents (who were feeling half-awake each morning) as they started off to class. This older lady, a first-generation immigrant, knew the names of nearly every resident in the hall and exuded an upbeat, positive attitude. Suddenly one day she was not there to offer her greeting, and many residents felt the strong sense of missing something very important. When it was found out that this woman had taken ill and was in the hospital, several residents rotated days to visit her in the hospital until she had recovered.

• Jayne took time out one afternoon for a ride on her bicycle and ventured down a riding path that led through an off-road park. Nearly eight miles out on the path, she ran over a rough stone and had a flat tire. Jayne had nothing to repair or pump up her tire and was left to push the bike home. About ten minutes later, another rider came by and offered to help. Even though this guy had a small repair kit, there was difficulty, and the tire repair took nearly 30 minutes to fix. She found out when the job was done that the “good Samaritan” helper was now going to be late for his job at a local convenience store. However, he refused to accept money for helping out and only issued a “Have a good day!” as he rode off in the other direction.

• Nearly every student in these classes had brief stories to tell about recent encounters: someone making a call concerned about not seeing her friend in class; an aunt who sent a “care package” to acknowledge a little-known but important anniversary; a boss who took time to explain the importance of doing a job correctly rather than handing out the prescribed disciplinary warning; a seven-year-old boy assisting an older man down a steep staircase at a national monument as closing darkness found the man hesitant about taking a misstep.

Lessons Learned

Take this exercise to the next step, and determine what the moral of the story might be in terms of what made the encounter meaningful. What is helping? What can you learn from any experiences that stand out from the simple act in an ordinary day or an extraordinary act that made a big difference in your life? Share and develop this list with people who are training with you in a group or, if working alone, write down your ideas and compare with the following examples gathered from one of our previous classes:

Helping is

• Less about the power or prestige of the person and more about sincerity and sensitivity

• Demonstrated by a sense of attention and interest even when not requested or spoken

• Action without a sense of personal gain

• A feeling of genuine, heartfelt, and sincere response to another

• Receptive and open acceptance of another without judgment

• Acting to do the “right” thing, a morality of action

• Made through small gestures with important meaning

• Inspiring without gloating

• Listening to the heart as much as the voice

Now make your own group list and discuss how being an effective helper is also an attitude, a disposition, an act of character, a gift of kindness, and a connection to humanity. There are many ways to provide significant gestures helpful to another person. Little things given freely can mean a lot!

THE IMPACT ON YOU AS A PEER EDUCATOR