Browsing by Subject "Undergraduates"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Guide for Team Leaders
    (2017) Benson, Jane; Lilly, Mary P.
    The Guide for Team Leaders is designed to inspire personal exploration of leadership within PAL, SI, and related academic support programs. Depending on the program, there may already be an existing structure in place where an experienced facilitator/leader mentors their own team of peers functioning in a similar role. These team leaders can create opportunities for members to interact, share knowledge, and promote the professional growth of their peers. This guide was originally designed to support the growth of such team leaders within the Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) Program at the University of Minnesota. However, as this work progressed, it became clear that the ideas were applicable to a variety of team leadership roles. This hands-on guide delves into such topics as meta-cognition, team member identity and participation, meeting/discussion topics and activities, and much more. Interactive activities encourage readers to reflect on these topics, while providing ample space for them to record their insights. It complements the Guide for Peer Learning Facilitators and utilizes activities in Tried and Tweaked, both of which are works developed by the University of Minnesota’s PAL Program.
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    Perceptions of Childbirth Among Undergraduates
    (2019) Mazurek, Samantha; Emad, Mitra
    In 2017, over 3.8 million babies were born in the United States (Hamilton et. al, 2018). Of these births, 1.2 million were born via cesarean section. This translates to a cesarean delivery rate of 32.0%, which is over three times the rate recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015). A cesarean birth rate greater than 10% of all births indicates that the procedure is being done in the absence of medical necessity, and at risk to the health and safety of the woman giving birth. There is also excessive use of medical interventions such as amniotomy, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, labor induction, and episiotomy; which have been shown to have little to no benefit to mother or baby, while increasing the risk of cesarean section and contributing to the high maternal mortality in the United States (Goer, Leslie, & Romano, 2007). To understand what influences women to decide to have excessive interventions during childbirth, one must first look at the underlying cultural values in the society she lives in.
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    A prospective study of potentially traumatic events: associations between types and dimensions of events and outcomes.
    (2012-06) Anders, Samantha Lee
    The purposes of this study were to assess lifetime and recent exposure to potentially traumatic life events (PTE) among undergraduate and community college students, to assess the relation between event exposure and a broad range of outcomes (i.e., mental and physical health, life satisfaction, GPA) and to compare students who were exposed to a PTE to those who were not exposed, on changes in functioning on a broad range of outcomes (e.g., PTSD, distress, life satisfaction, world assumptions). Undergraduate students from a Midwestern university (n = 842) and a community college (n = 242) completed online measures of lifetime event exposure and outcomes at Time 1 (T1) and recent event exposure and outcomes at Time 2 (T2) two months later. PTEs assessed included events that did and did not meet the definition of a traumatic event (i.e., PTSD Criterion A1) in the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) as well as directly (e.g., own life-threatening illness) and indirectly (e.g., others' illness) experienced events. Individuals who experienced an event between T1 and T2 and said that it had caused them considerable or extreme distress made up the PTE group (n = 153). The no PTE group (n = 198) consisted of individuals who either did not experience an event between T1 and T2 or experienced an event that caused them no distress. Students reported experiencing many lifetime and recent Criterion A1 and non-A1 events; community college students reported more events than did university students. Generally, individuals who reported more lifetime events also reported poorer outcomes (e.g., poorer health) at T1. The number of non-Criterion A1 and directly experienced events tended to be more strongly correlated with negative outcomes than were the number of Criterion A1 and indirectly experienced events reported at T1. Controlling for number of lifetime traumas and neuroticism, the PTE group reported significantly more change in mental and physical health symptoms and world assumptions than the no PTE group, and reported more reliable change in outcomes. Overall, however, the amount of change in the PTE group was small.
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    Two (or More) Heads are Better than One: Adventures in leading group learning
    (2010) Walker Ohs, Lana; Lilly, Mary P
    Whether as study group leaders, undergraduate TA’s, or tutors, college students working in peer-led academic support programs have a unique role in the learning environment - acting as model students and sharing their productive study behaviors. Along the way, these students gather wisdom and insight into what works and what doesn’t when assisting their fellow undergrads. The Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) Program at the University of Minnesota has compiled a storybook to capture some of that wisdom so that those who follow can benefit from their predecessors' experiences - some positive, some challenging, but all "learning opportunities". Two (or More) Heads are Better than One: Adventures in leading group learning is a collection of first person narratives, told by peer facilitators and recorded and edited by one of the PAL program’s undergraduates - Lana Walker. What began as her thesis project, the collection turned into a book that has become a staple in the pre-semester training workshops and weekly team meetings. The stories are a springboard for discussions of program policies, the particulars of cooperative learning, and a clearer understanding of roles and boundaries. The format is engaging; peer leaders find some of the stories “funny” and laugh along with the narrators about their experiences. Anyone working with undergrads will see how they can benefit from these honest and thoughtful reflections, carefully grouped by topic, with stimulating, open-ended questions at the end of each chapter.