Student co-mentoring in Israeli and American universities: Promoting mutual academic success

Abstract

This chapter describes a peer mentoring approach that was incorporated in two courses that were at the beginning and at the end stages of students’ higher education programs: Undergraduate freshmen and doctoral students. With the goal of providing students with academic and social support using student-to-student co-mentoring experiences, the students were divided into dyads or triads. The students were asked to function both as mentors and mentees throughout an academic semester with the purpose of engaging them in co-mentoring to better meet the challenges faced, either in transitioning from high school to college or in furthering the advancement in their doctoral programs. Students enjoyed the meaningful help received and given as co-mentors and found this opportunity fulfilling. The results suggest that effective mentors not necessarily need to be more experienced or more knowledgeable than their mentees as the research suggests, but a more important aspect of effective mentoring might be providing the opportunity for persons to help others, especially those who are in similar predicaments.