Proposal For: AUT University Inspiring Māori and Pasifika Success (IMAPS)
2012 Program
Abstract We can develop our future through advancing Māori and Pacifika students at university by instilling the importance of study through leadership and support. This proposal seeks to implement positive and resourceful change to the I-MAPS program for the purpose of extending academic wealth and the presence of flourishing Māori and Pasifika success in
Prepared By: Angela Ngataki Troy Summerton 16/2/2012
the business world.
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 2011 Reflection ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Strengths .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Weaknesses......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Moving Forward - Aim.................................................................................................................................................... 3 2012 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Leaders.................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Important training objectives:........................................................................................................................... 4 Leader Forms ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Facebook .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Feedback Forms ................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Peer Leader Roles ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 General leader role ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Research and Analysis Role – Chantelle ........................................................................................................ 6 Supervisor/senior leader (2 roles).................................................................................................................. 6 Communication Role ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Logistics, Marketing and Relations .................................................................................................................. 7 Creating a community..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Marketing and incentives .............................................................................................................................................. 7 2012 Program .................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................................... 11
1 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Introduction This proposal specifies the IMAPS Program for Semester One 2012. It begins with a reflection of the 2011 program followed by recommendations for improving 2012. Peer leader roles, marketing factors and most importantly, the proposed structure are outlined. Suggestions about how to measure and identify improvements through quantitative and qualitative analysis are included (regular feedback, student attendance log and results).
2011 Reflection Strengths IMAPS leaders provided students with a fun, friendly environment for study and assistance. There was strong rapport between students and leaders; with relationships strengthening as the program matures. Leaders were welcoming and some put a lot of effort into students who specifically came to seek their help. Many students flourished from the one-to-one learning environment. Lunches that were provided helped to initiate incentive and motivation for students to come into university, considering the program ran on a Wednesday, which for all first year students is a day of no classes. The training the original leaders undertook at the beginning of IMAPS undeniably gave valuable skills to apply during sessions; particularly how to engage in conversation. Training also helped with team building which leaders built upon throughout the semester. This is a crucial ingredient to have when focusing on the advancement of IMAPS students as leaders that worked together were able to offer more within the classroom. Particularly, some leaders were seen to discuss issues between each other to seek the best advice for the student. Guest speakers, including the AUT Graduate employed by Vodafone, gave a real boost for morale by providing students with a snapshot of a real-life pathway into a successful career through perseverance and effort. More speakers in 2012 would add value to the aim of IMAPS.
2 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Weaknesses Mentor roles became unclear and we felt that the overall objective of the program subsided over the year. The reason being is that some (but not all) leaders did not stay on task: often taking long breaks or putting their own study first. Student assistance forms were often not filled in by leaders. While speaking with one leader, they reasoned that because they knew of the amount of work they put in, they did not need to provide evidence of such. Thus, we feel that the purpose of the worksheets was not clear, which was to keep a track on the main areas in need of assistance and who these students were – not to keep a record of the level of work leaders were achieving. There was most evidently a general lack of interest in this control. Communication between leaders and faculty regarding organisational issues was at times confusing and unclear. These issues included such things as when leaders were not attending IMAPS on the day, which for other leaders meant they could not leave if no one was taking over their shift. Also, access between WU and the IMAPS space, handing in and picking up keys, timing of lunches and general organisation of events was confusing. The room could have been more efficiently used. Some students came to use the space for a place to hang out, for internet use and socialising. This is a natural occurrence; however, better role modelling by the leaders would set a standard emphasising the importance of study and the privilege of using the space. Leaders most definitely lacked training. Some were not confident in approaching and others were indirect when offering help. “Does anyone need any help?” is not the right way to ask, especially Māori or Pacifika students who are commonly shy and independent. The leader training at the beginning of IMAPS was most valuable; however it needs to be conducted regularly – per semester to maintain a level of professionalism and skill.
Moving Forward - Aim Our aim this year is to achieve excellence in academic success mentoring by enhancing assistance, developing stronger relationships and aiding students with the transition into university life (AUT IMAPS Meeting Agenda, February 24th 2011). “Academic Success Mentoring is defined as providing students with assistance in areas such as; time management, study skills, organisation, test taking skills, study group strategies, understanding curriculum, 3 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
using internet systems” (AUT IMAPS Meeting Agenda, February 24th 2011, p. 1). We also aim to instil focus and desire for learning. This will be achieved through a further structured program, utilizing leaders more and developing a higher professional standard of leaders. Furthermore, we aim to expand and establish IMAPS as a more recognised initiative throughout AUT Faculty of Business and Law thus increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika students attending. This will be achieved through a number of techniques discussed more in-depth under ‘Marketing and Incentives’.
2012 Recommendations Leaders Leaders are to set the standard of academic success so that students can emulate their behaviour. Therefore it is recommended to clearly define peer leader roles to ensure their responsibilities are identified and carried out. To do this, an initial job description/contract should be presented to outline their specific duties and create a binding contract. Responsibilities are recommended to be supplemented with on-going training at the beginning of each semester in order to refresh previous training, implement changes and enforce the importance of their roles, regardless of whether leaders have completed prior training. Important training objectives:
to educate how to approach students in a way they will feel comfortable to accept help,
to emphasise duties of a peer leader,
to outline the semester program including upcoming assessments and workshops so leaders know what type of support to provide and when,
define roles - who will be responsible for what and who to go to for what – sick days, change of hours, keys, etcetera,
to advise what KIND of help and advice to give to students,
to bond, build a team and get to know each other.
Leader Forms As mentioned, a weakness of the 2011 program was the poor use of the student assistance forms and the manual timesheets.
It is recommended that leaders complete a generic 4
I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
informative form for each day they work. One that does not specifically request information about who they helped, but alternatively, bid for a general report of the important areas of assistance leaders provided and the number of students helped in that area. Appendix 1 provides a prospective outline of such. Keeping a record of specific names of students does not appear to be relevant and is also difficult to keep track of. A leader may be helping a whole group, thus asking for their student ID’s or names (if not known) can be tedious and time consuming; plus students may also feel scrutinised. However, students that stood out as having major issues with learning should be mentioned. This form is proposed to become a requirement of leaders to complete and email to the appointed leader each week by the following Friday.
Facebook An ‘IMAPS Peer Leader group’ at Facebook will enhance communication between leaders and provide better support for each other. Another group for students and leaders should also be set up. Currently, we have an IMAPS ‘person’ that can be added as a friend. By creating a ‘group’ there will be more of a central place to communicate between leaders (perhaps faculty also) and students. It may also be an idea to encourage students to ask for help here whereby one or all leaders monitor and respond. To note, the IMAPS Facebook profile only says ‘Pacifika’ success. This needs to be amended to read ‘Māori and Pacifika Success’.
Feedback Forms It is recommended to initiate primary research in the form of feedback forms for students to fill in twice per semester. Refer to Appendix 2 for an outline which will quantify the strengths and weaknesses of the program, how leaders were utilised and what could work better in the future. These forms would be given to students during sessions or by email at mid semester and the end of semester.
Peer Leader Roles It is proposed to have clearly defined roles in order to meet the aim of utilising leaders. The following points are proposed roles and their descriptions.
5 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
General leader role An outline of each leader’s responsibility as defined in the AUT IMAPS Peer Leader Meeting Agenda:
Provide assistance to students in allocated study rooms,
encourage students to attend classes and to be role models for Māori and Pacific Island students,
maintain student confidentiality,
maintain records of students they have assisted (as mentioned, not specifically).
In addition, leaders are to:
Complete leader forms and submit by Friday each week,
prepare for each session by ensuring they have all lesson plans and content for leader workshops and leader assisted learning,
regularly check emails and Facebook group pages,
respond to students who are seeking assistance (this may be difficult when assessing work hours, one leader monitoring the Facebook group page may be a better solution).
Research and Analysis Role – Chantelle This role involves inputting data into excel to analyse and measure performance improvements and trends in student needs. The collections of data sources include leader forms, student sign in sheets, student feedback forms and academic grades. At the end of each semester a report should be produced and made available to the team or included at the end of term de-brief.
Supervisor/senior leader (2 roles) At IMAPS sessions the supervisor:
opens and closes the IMAPS space, therefore responsible for keys and resources;
collects student sign in sheet and ensures it is filled in throughout the day and returned to WU space,
monitors and ensures leaders work required hours and conducting themselves properly (quietly as to not police),
writes on the board a snap shot of what’s coming up in terms of assessments, along with the leaders available for the day.
6 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Communication Role This role involves circulating lesson plans via email to leaders with a brief outline on the IMAPS Facebook Peer Leader Group page. This role is responsible for the formulation of lesson plans. The task of emailing students may best be kept as Janet’s role, however, if workable, this would fit within this role. Otherwise, the daily structure is to be emailed to Janet to send to students.
Logistics, Marketing and Relations This role involves:
meeting and greeting speakers,
organising lunches (this may need to stay as the responsibility of faculty)
liaising with faculty such as unavailability to work, which is then passed onto Janet, and
organisation of incentives and t-shirts.
Creating a community It is supported to have a touch team consisting of Māori and Pasific Island students to bring together a cultural community at AUT Faculty of Business and Law. The Facebook group page will additionally create a community forum along with voluntary work increasing community involvement. Social events are important for bonding and team building. Therefore IMAPS events should be made compulsory for leader to come together as one. Other social events could also be organised for leaders as well as IMAPS students in a less formal environment.
Marketing and incentives The Clubs and societies expo in week one will help to establish IMAPS. This is an opportunity to market the program as ‘free help from strong leaders’. Exposing their accomplishments and capabilities in some way will also generate interest, such as providing a brief description of the IMAPS leaders on the website. Improving the IMAPS t-shirts with cultural designs will further help students identify with the program.
7 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Offering Westfield Vouchers as an incentive to bring a friend to the study space will help increase numbers and encourage word-of mouth. Although, offering one for every friend a student brings along will not work sufficiently, but offering one for each student that brings a friend who consistently attends IMAPS (perhaps at least twice for at least 3 hours) will work better. Alternatively, offering a free IMAPS t-shirt similar but not identical to leader t-shirts will also help to market IMAPS and grow the brand. Ask for help incentives are also recommended. The winner is to be decided at the end of the semester by leaders and faculty, supported by the leader forms when they specify who they helped. The idea is to send the message to students that asking for help is encouraged and awarded. The proposed IMAPS program structure includes more lunches. Expensive food such as pizza on a regular basis is not proposed but rather regular light meals such as savoury’s and sandwiches. This helps to attract students to the space.
2012 Program The program includes workshops that are relevant to the timing of assessments with duration of up to 1.5 hours. It utilises leaders by outlining certain workshops for them to take. These workshops include ones that are general, such as using AUT online and library databases. The more intensive workshops are proposed to be taken by AUT staff such as lecturers and Te Tari Awhina with assistance from leaders. However, we have offered an alternative program that is less structured, or used a merger to the structured one which utilises leaders even more so whereby leaders take on more of a teaching role. Instead of structured workshops, sessions will have similar content but with a relaxed time structure. Leaders will be given lesson plans to guide them which will involve preparation of content. Lesson plans could be pre-produced for them so they know exactly how and what to concentrate on teaching. Another aspect of the program is the emphasis on upcoming assessments and the importance of leaders being prepared for sessions. Each week, we recommend distributing a daily outline to inform leaders what is happening that day, including who will be there for assistance, and the subject areas to concentrate on assisting with. This will be achieved through the above mentioned communication role under ‘Peer Leader Roles’ who will also have the task of creating each daily outline along with lesson plans when needed and distributing to leaders. ‘
8 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
There are three speakers in the structured program: graduate, industry and post graduate. We decided on three because each has a touch of inspiration from a different angle, also bearing in mind the positive feedback previous speakers had. A post graduate speaker would tie in well with major’s week to initiate interest for post graduate study. A workshop on CV, scholarship and cover letter writing has been planned around the graduate speaker to develop long-term career goals combined with skills on how to complete formal applications. It has been identified that students lack in this form of writing and format, thus we deem this to be an important workshop for the program. The industry speaker extends on this focus.
9 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Conclusion The IMAPS program is a very important initiative in supporting and developing MÄ ori and Pacifika student success as well as maintaining a strong presence of culture both at university and in the business world. However, it is not running at its full potential. This program offers a great deal to students in both the transition into university and throughout their learning experience. This is a comprehensive plan that offers ideas with alternatives in how to improve and grow the IMAPS program. We have offered ideas and options in a structure that will enhance and develop the IMAPS program even further and streamline how the program operates so that students get the maximum benefit from the resources provided here at AUT University. It is also important that the IMAPS brand itself is grown, to reach a greater number of students. Having gone through the IMAPS program ourselves as leaders we know firsthand the importance and help that IMAPS provides.
10 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Appendix Appendix 1
AUT UNIVERSITY IMAPS PEER LEADER FORM Please complete this form and email to Chantelle by Friday.
Name:
Student ID:
Date:
Week:
Start:
End:
Hours worked:
Papers assisted with: Areas/topics concerned: What did students struggle with the most today? Explain
How many students sought help on these topics? Are there any students that you feel concerned about?
Further comments:
11 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal
Appendix 2
AUT UNIVERSITY I-MAPS STUDENT FEED BACK FORM
Feedback forms are anonymous and for the improvement of the IMAPS program Year of study: __________________ Papers being studied: _________________________ Papers or areas that you need the most help with: ________________________________ How did you hear about I-maps? _______________________ How often do you attend I-maps? ______________________ What do you enjoy most and what do you find most helpful about I-maps: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Is there anything you didn’t like about IMAPS: _________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Is there anything you would change or like to see different: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Were the leaders helpful? Why? Why not? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Is there anything that would make you come more often? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Do you think I-maps has helped your grades, if so how? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Overall how would you rate the IMAPS program? (please circle) 1
2
3
4
5
Any other comments: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________
12 I-MAPS 2012 Proposal