Teaching is Learning

I have been using the facilitation approach in my teaching for quite some time now.  I also use a similar approach as a mentor to students who are allocated to me every year.  For the last two years, I have started student mentorship by inviting senior batch students to help me and their juniors in the ongoing modules.  The senior students volunteer as per their choice of assessment methods in their choice of module.  They remain available to juniors for help in various assignments, and to me for assessments thereof.  While student mentorship yields a certain level of authority of senior students over the juniors, such involvements also come with responsibilities towards - a) mentees, b) system, and c) self.  After witnessing two batches of such inputs, I have certain observations and suggestions for buddying mentors. 1.  Facilitation generally does not have a pre-decided agenda or a structure. Mentor’s inputs emerge from mentee’s inputs.   Let th...

I have been using the facilitation approach in my teaching for quite some time now.  I also use a similar approach as a mentor to students who are allocated to me every year.  For the last two years, I have started student mentorship by inviting senior batch students to help me and their juniors in the ongoing modules.  The senior students volunteer as per their choice of assessment methods in their choice of module.  They remain available to juniors for help in various assignments, and to me for assessments thereof.  While student mentorship yields a certain level of authority of senior students over the juniors, such involvements also come with responsibilities towards - a) mentees, b) system, and c) self.  After witnessing two batches of such inputs, I have certain observations and suggestions for buddying mentors. 1.  Facilitation generally does not have a pre-decided agenda or a structure. Mentor’s inputs emerge from mentee’s inputs.   Let t...