ABSTRACT
There is growing interest in student peer mentoring as a way to enable new students to tackle the perceived cultural, academic and social boundaries associated with the first year of study in higher education. Based on a case study of a student mentoring scheme in a UK university, this chapter discusses the role of student mentors in supporting new student understanding and engagement with diagnostic and formative assessment. In particular, it considers the communicative potential of web-based technologies in transcending boundaries between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ learning opportunities. One of the main findings is that mentors perceived their positioning in a semi-institutional role as having greater impact on the nature of their communicative relationship with mentees than any technology-related factors. The authors describe the lessons learned and follow-up action research that ensued.
