WritingCafe@PolyU: Supporting writing through peer feedback and disciplinary communities of learners

Dureshahwar Lughmani, Muskan Sunish Shah, Ismatullo RAHOMOV

Research output: Unpublished conference presentation (presented paper, abstract, poster)AbstractAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

Communities of learners have proliferated as virtual learning spaces allow synchronous and asynchronous interactions. Learners engage with competent others within these spaces. Supporting learners in these environments has generated unique engagement opportunities and challenges that contact within the physical spaces did not. Recognising the importance of these educational technological trends and the affordances that they provide, we piloted an online writing centre model wherein student mentors were trained to deliver discipline-based writing feedback to students working on high-stakes assignments. Three pillars support this model: peer feedback, community of learners, and engagement of faculty from various disciplines. The community of learners is comprised of student mentees and peer mentors together with language teachers. To sustain the quality of the peer feedback model, four student mentors were recruited to support specific disciplinary assignments. They were hired after a rigorous recruitment process. 40 mentees were invited based on reported needs and weak English writing skills. Faculty from four broad disciplines were invited to develop support for disciplinary groups of students for high-stakes assignments. As part of the collaboration, assignment guidelines and model scripts are obtained to prepare to receive student mentees and optimally support them.

For this session, we have invited peer mentors to share their experience of giving feedback on disciplinary assignments. A brief analysis of the values and skills that were critical for students to engage with peers will be shared.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Peer mentoring
  • writing centres
  • communities of learners
  • writing in the disciplines
  • genre-based feedback

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