Yari M. Marrero, MHSUCC-Peer Mentoring Program Coordinator

Presentation Objectives:

• Share an overview of the UCC Peer Mentoring Program (UCC-PMP).– Objectives– Conceptual Framework– Selection Criteria– Program Evaluation

UCC-PMP Purpose• Enhance student success and

retention through academic and non-academic support in adapting to the academic environment and meeting the challenges of a demanding program of studies.

UCC-PMP Objectives:

– Improved student academic self-efficacy and effective learning practices:• to develop and enhance a sense of student

academic self-efficacy through the mentoring relationship,• to become effectively integrated into UCC,

through academic and non-academic support to the faculty and campus as a whole, • to acquire the necessary skills to become

independent and life-long learners.

UCC-PMP Framework: SELF-EFFICACY

• Based in the Social Learning Theory approach and cognitive behavioral learning models.

• According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (1995, p. 2).

• For example, self-efficacy mediates the effect of social support on physical symptoms after surgery in 193 cardiac patients, (2007) R. Schwarzer et al.

• Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura (1994) described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel.

Bandura and others have found that an individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached.

People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:

• View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered.

• Develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate.

• Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities.

• Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments.

People with a weak sense of self-efficacy:

• Avoid challenging tasks.• Believe that difficult tasks

and situations are beyond their capabilities.

• Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes.

• Quickly loose confidence in personal abilities (Bandura, 1994).

• These beliefs begin to form in early childhood as the children deal with a wide variety of experiences, tasks, and situations.

• However, the growth of self-efficacy does not ends during youth, but continues to evolve throughout life as people acquire new skills, experiences, and understanding (Bandura, 1992).

Course Selection

• An analysis of academic performance by Dr. Omar Pérez, detailed difficulties resulting in failing or barely passing courses, often in basic courses like:– human anatomy, – physiology,– radiographic physics, – basic principles of radiographic exposure