Creating Reflective Peer Leaders

Abstract

This chapter explores a mentoring intervention for a group of higher degree research students at an Australian university designed to develop their academic and reflective writing through skills-based instruction and the development of a student-driven community of practice. To analyse and evaluate this initiative, the chapter provides a detailed description and unpacking of the program's motivations, objectives, and outcomes using 16 mentoring design elements. The program is also evaluated using an extended application of the 3P presage, process, product model. Three data sets were used to evaluate the success of the program: doctoral participants' evaluations at the time of the workshops and 12 months after the workshop and the reflections of the mentor and educator expert response for the program. The chapter concludes by identifying key learnings and potential for further application of a revised model for delivering holistic and co-designed learning experiences for future leaders such as doctoral students.