Date of Award
Spring 4-15-2024
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Masters of Art in Professional Writing
Department
English
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Aaron Levy
Second Advisor
Jeanne Law
Abstract
Peer mentors who work with students with intellectual disabilities at the post-secondary level are uniquely situated in their roles both as students and as tutors to assist their students not only with their academic work but also in modeling learning strategies one-on-one. This brief study, including both quantitative and qualitative survey data, establishes a baseline for tutors’ self-confidence when it comes to their own writing and tutoring their students in writing. It further examines the impact of a professional development learning opportunity on tutors’ ability to potentially practice and model a writing strategy in their sessions with their student population. The preliminary results are promising, indicating that these tutors are overall confident in their writing and tutoring abilities, and their responses to open-ended survey questions strongly indicate that they are able to visualize utilizing self-regulation strategies in the forethought phase in both areas. Plans to expand this study in the future include additional post-workshop surveys with open-ended questions targeted to the performance and self-reflection phases of self-regulated learning and to gauge whether tutors’ self-reported confidence levels increase with further professional development workshops.